


Jack of Hearts

by Magh2os



Category: One Piece
Genre: F/M, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2020-12-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:28:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 32,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22026322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Magh2os/pseuds/Magh2os
Summary: “Both of you, grab any useful medical supplies that aren’t contaminated. Bepo, show me the bullet wound.”“Bepo pointed at his side, but protested, “It’s fine now! Jack did a good job stitching it up, and the bandage job looks like yours.”That made Law pause. He examined the bandaged side, and saw that it was a good job, but something seemed… off about it… “Why is it backwards?”“I…” came from the doorway. “Am. Left. Handed.” Law and the others turned, and those unprepared for it balked at the sight of the female veterinarian standing there, holding her head at about chest level, looking furious and surprisingly calm for someone who’d been decapitated.Law had been right. It was going to be a very long day.
Relationships: Trafalgar D. Water Law/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 41
Kudos: 163





	1. Pilot! A New Island, and New Friends!

There was a laundry list of things wrong with the island they were stopping at for supplies, but somehow none of them were the thing sitting at the bottom of Law’s chest.

He just didn’t want to be there, and he couldn’t pinpoint why. It annoyed him to no end.

Unfortunately, Bepo was getting over-worried about their current rations load, and Penguin needed half a store’s worth of tools, many of which Law was certain existed on the ship. He was pretty sure Shachi was hiding them because he wanted doubles. Not that that was a bad idea, but there weren’t enough people on board to cause enough problems to require that many tools. At least, that’s what Law told himself. He stayed in the operating room and out of the kitchen for a reason.

“Captain, we’re preparing to dock.” Bepo didn’t take his eyes from the viewscreen in front of him, focused on piloting the Polar Tang towards shore.

“Put us somewhere out of the way. We don’t want to attract any attention.” Law turned towards Penguin, who had poked his head up out of the hatch in the floor of the control room.

Penguin looked down at his boiler suit, at Bepo’s, and then over at Law’s bright yellow sweatshirt, all of which had their Jolly Roger on the front. “Sure, that makes sense.”

Shachi’s voice floated up from farther below, and Penguin made his way back down with a wave. “Surfacing in ten!”

Bepo looked up from behind the wheel. “You’re supposed to announce that over a speaker.”

“Bepo,” Penguin’s head popped back up. “There are four of us on this sub. I can see two right now, and Shachi is the one controlling ascent. Do we have to follow that rule?”

“It’s supposed to be protocol….”

Law interrupted both of them. “Just take us up, we’re making this stop as short and painless as possible.”

Penguin and Bepo looked at each other and then turned simultaneously back to their task. As his hat disappeared below deck, Penguin shouted up “Surfacing in nine, fearless leader!”

It was going to be a long day. 

* * *

Two men and a polar bear, all in boiler suits, wandered down the street, meandering past houses and shops in search of somewhere to sit and rest their arms. After picking up groceries and various tools, the bags they had were starting to become heavier and heavier. 

Shachi looked around. “Isn’t there a mink colony on this island? Do you wanna stop there, Bepo?”

“Captain said to make the trip short, we should head back….” Secretly, Bepo wasn’t thrilled to be spending time on this island either. He’d heard of Calamon, a tiny landmass in the North Blue, and on their way towards the Grand Line. He knew about the mink colony too, but judging from the looks he’d been getting all day, Bepo was fairly certain it wasn’t a well-loved section of the town.

A few blocks down they came across what looked like a cafe, with outdoor seating and huge umbrellas to shelter patrons from the steady stream of snow falling from the sky. The three pirates huddled at a table, setting bags and crates down before massaging their sore arms. 

“We should have made Cap come with, he coulda just teleported all this back to the Polar Tang.”

“Peng, I don’t think that’s how his fruit thing works.”

“Well, what’s the point then.” Wincing as his shoulder cracked, Penguin looked around. “Hey, are those guys staring at us?”

Across the street, a small group of thuggish-looking men were whispering and pointing in their direction. Shachi waved. “Maybe they recognize the Heart Pirates! Our bounty papers have been in circulation for a little while now.”

Ever since they’d set sail from Swallow Island, Law had made sure to get their name out there. They’d raided ships and fought a fair number of marines, gaining a good amount of notoriety for their part of the world. It helped that most marine ships weren’t equipped to deal well with submarines, which gave them an advantage. They could hit an island or base with little to no warning, and escape underwater before backup could box them in. After the last few months, their bounties had grown into a tidy sum, especially with a Devil Fruit holder for a captain.

“Judging by the looks on their faces, they don’t seem to be happy about something.” Penguin straightened up, head turning as the group approached them. 

Shachi kept the smile going, but his hand slipped down to finger a wrench at the top of one of their bags. “Can we help you guys?”

The group looked at each other, and the one closest to them stepped forward, brushing long brown bangs from his eyes. “Yeah, get your damn pet out of that seat. Animals stay on the ground.”

Shachi and Penguin both bristled at that. “Scuse, thought I heard you insulting our navigator here. Wanna repeat that for us, ya damn townies?” Said Sachi, his voice low and tight. 

“Yeah, unibrow, you know who you’re talking to? We’re pirates, all of us.” Added Penguin, putting a hand up on Bepo’s shoulder. 

“I said,” Unibrow Guy started, “Get your damn pet out of that chair, and if you wannabe pirates have an animal for a navigator, those wanted posters must be more exaggerated than we thought.”

That crossed several lines. Before the Heart pirates, both Shachi and Penguin might have been inclined to agree with them, but after joining up with Law and Bepo, they were crewmates. More importantly, they had become friends, ad no one insulted their crew like that.

Shachi stood up, clenching the wrench in one hand. “We’re gonna give you one more chance to apologize to Bepo here, or else you jerks get to help add to our bounty.”

No one talks down to the Heart Pirates and gets away with it.” Ground out Penguin. Behind him, Bepo stood to his full height.

“Well, for a buncha pirates, ya sure do a lot of talking and not a-”

Unibrow guy didn’t get to finish the sentence before Shachi beaned him in the head with the wrench. The rest on the town gang watched as their pseudo-leader fell. Shachi spun the wrench in his hand. “Anyone else have anything to say?”

Apparently, they all did, as the other four townies rushed the pirates. Shachi began swinging wildly, and behind him, Penguin and Bepo kicked and punched anyone getting past. One of the townies pulled a switchblade and went for Penguin’s side, but a quick and heavy fisted paw was brought down on his shoulder. Returning the favor, Penguin kicked one running in from the side in retaliation. 

The fighting shifted further into the street, attracting people from nearby buildings and houses. The slow-growing crowd was murmuring heavily, but no one stepped in to help either side. Despite being the instigators of the fight, it seemed that the people of Calamon weren’t interested in defending mink or pirates. 

Suddenly, a shot rang out from the crowd, scattering pedestrians and startling the townies enough for them to scatter, bruised and beaten heavily. One of them had picked up Unibrow guy from the street, dragging him along behind in a rather undignified fashion.

Shachi waved the wrench after them. “Yeah, you better run, assholes! That’s what happens!” The effect was ruined slightly by his heavy panting, and the slight swelling of his lower lip. 

“Uhh, Shachi?” Started Penguin, turning towards Bepo. The bear mink was currently holding his side, red streaming down his snowy fur and dripping on to the ground. He swayed once, and then toppled to the street. The two Heart pirates rushed towards their friend, lifting his head and putting pressure on the wound. It wasn’t immediately life threatening, but the bullet had gone in deep, and the Polar Tang wasn’t close by. Dragging Bepo there would cost a lot of time. 

Penguin looked around, but the street had become completely deserted. The two hefted the bear up on their shoulders and began to make their way to port, hurrying despite their exhaustion. “I know you wanted to head back quick, Bepo, but you didn’t have to go through all this trouble,” mumbled Shachi.

Bepo’s reply was slow and quiet. “Sorry….” 

After two blocks, Bepo’s feet dragged even harder on the pavement, and it seemed like everyone in town had completely disappeared. As they rounded a corner, however, a nearby barrel began to speak to them. 

“Ohmygosh! Is he ok?” 

Penguin and Shachi looked at the barrel, at each other, and at the barrel again. “Uhh, how hard did I get punched, Peng? Cause that sounded like a barrel with a little girl’s voice.”

“Close,” said the barrel, and a mink child climbed out into the alleyway. She was maybe ten, with small fox ears and a tail to match. Her clothing looked ragged and torn, but she smiled up at them. “Do you guys need help?”

The two men kept staring. “You… do know we’re pirates, right? You know,” Penguin gestured at their boiler suits, “the logos?”

“But…” The little girl looked down, “Your friend is hurt. And there ain’t no doctors that’ll treat minks in this part of the city. It’s illegal.”

“So how were you planning on being helpful?” Grumbled Shachi, shifting Bepo’s weight.

“I have a friend who’ll maybe help, but ya gotta be quiet-like about it. If I tell you the address, and you say that Annie sent you, then she’ll help. Well, as long as you don’t annoy her. I’m Annie by the way.”

“Is this friend of yours close by? We’re kinda in a hurry,” Asked Penguin. 

“Yeah, if you go down that way another block, and look for the building that has a vet sign, and knock, than you’ll find her!” Annie pointed off to the side down another alley. “But ya gotta say that I sent you, or she’ll think you’re tryin to get her in trouble. She can’ do it technically legally, ya know.”

“Sure….” Penguin looked at Shachi, Bepo had passed out, and the Polar Tang was still a ways away. “Guess we’ve got nothing to lose?”

Shachi sighed. “Better be a damn good vet, or Captain will string us both up for going there first.”

“Oh she’s the best! She treats us all the time!” Annie skipped away down the street, checking for people before turning around again. “Don’t forget, tell her I sent you! And be nice!”

With that, the little mink disappeared around the corner. Penguin and Shachi looked at each other again. 

“I knew this was gonna be a long-ass day…” Mumbled penguin as they started down the alley. 

They’d found the vet building pretty easily, as it was the shabbiest one on the street. The sign looked as though it had been nailed back on countless times, and the roof was in desperate need of repair. Still, they had few options outside of lugging Bepo all the way back to the Polar Tang, and Bepo was losing blood every minute they wasted. Penguin reached out a fist and rapped it against the door. 

Loud shuffling came from within, followed by a few muted curses, and then the door opened. Standing in front of them was a taller woman with short, blonde hair, chewing on a pencil. Despite the vet sign, she wore jeans and a patched-up leather jacket to ward off the cold. She looked at the three of them cooly. “What.”

“Uh, we need some help for our crewmate here and-” She interrupted Shachi. “S’illegal to treat minks on this side of town. Go to the other district ya damn pirates.” With that, she began to close the door. 

Penguin shoved his foot in the opening just before it slammed shut. “Uh…. Annie sent us?”

At that, the woman stopped and looked all three of them up and down. Then, she sighed, reaching into a pocket, and shoved something at Shachi. “I said I can’t help. Out.” With that, the door shut completely. 

Penguin looked at the door. “Well that wasn’t helpful at all.”

“Maybe…” Started Shachi as he opened the piece of parchment she’d practically thrown at him. “Or maybe this isn’t the right entrance.”

The note said, in smudged handwriting, to go around back and knock three times. Deciding it was worth a try, the two pirated hauled their friend around the side, through a tall, gated fence and to the back door. Knocking three times, Penguin almost fell as he lurched back when the door opened suddenly. 

The woman stood there now, a white lab coat on and gloves in one hand. The jacket remained under the coat, giving her a bulky look. “You said Annie sent you? I gotta talk to her about associating with strangers. It’s not often a pirate crew shows up at my door.” 

With that, she gestured them inside. They passed through a small living room with a well-stocked bookshelf, and stopped at a door. Pulling out a key, the woman unlocked and pushed it open into a room that was much better kept than the building would suggest. A small operating room with a table large enough for even Bepo, as well as nice looking equipment that was decidedly not for household pets. Shachi and Penguin hauled Bepo over and set him down gently, then looked around. The woman, gloves on, began poking and prodding the wound in Bepo’s side. Absently, she addressed the two of them. “Name’s Jack. Don’t touch anything you don’t know how to use, and don’t wander off. Now, how did this happen? This is a pretty fresh bullet wound.”

“Well, we were minding our own business-”

“Doubt that, since you’re pirates.”

“ _Minding our own business_ , when these assholes came up and told Bepo to shove off. We don’t let people push around our crew, so we kicked their asses no problem.” Shachi crossed his arms at that, smiling proudly. The woman, Jack, looked pointedly at his swollen lip and the random bruises and scrapes covering all three of them. “Uh huh. And then?”

Penguin jumped in. “Then some asshole from the crowd started letting off shots at us! Didn’t even have the guts to get in a fair fight, pretty lame in my opinion.”

“Probably patrollers, to be honest, they aren’t all that keen about minks wandering around on this side of town. The governor puts up a good front, but he’s been pushin’ to get them gone ever since he got elected.” As she said this, Jack finished cleaning the bullet would. “Would one of you hand me those?” 

She pointed at a pair of thin forceps, and Shachi handed them over. Carefully, she pressed them into the wound, ignoring Bepo’s moans as she extracted the bullet from a few inches below the surface. “Your friend here is lucky, his fur took the brunt of the shot. Any further and it might have hit something valuable.”

With that, she plunked the bullet on the table beside her, and began stitching up the wound. Bepo shifted slightly, his eyes opening blearily. Penguin and Shachi rushed over. 

“How ya feeling, Beps?” Bepo stared at Shachi, and then answered. 

“Do we have any fish?”

After making sure Bepo was ok, and that the vet lady wouldn’t murder him, Penguin borrowed a transponder snail and went to the living room to call the Tang. He’d lost the rock-paper-scissors battle for this one, and he wasn’t looking forward to the conversation. 

The transponder rang twice before picking up, “Hello?”

Penguin winced at his already annoyed tone, before answering with a drawn out “Heeeeyyy, Captain…..”

“Penguin? Why are you calling me. Aren’t you three done shopping yet? I told you I wanted to make this stop short, we’ve got more-”

“Yeah, I know, Cap, and I just wanna say that I suggested waiting for the next island before docking but Shachi needed the new tools and-”

Law stopped him with a groan. “What happened.”

“Bepo got shot.”

Law’s tone changed, and Penguin knew he was gathering supplies, and probably Kikoku. “Where are you, I’m headed out right now. Keep heading to the Tang and I’ll-”

Penguin let him go for a bit before interrupting him this time. “Well, actually, we’ve got it mostly under control. The guys that did it are gone and we went to this vet place and-”

“Vet place?”

Penguin gulped. “Yeah, we, uh, we were pretty far from the Polar Tang when it all went down, and we wanted to get help quick, ya know for Bepo, so we kinda, uh, wenttoavetinsteadoftryingtocallyouandI’msorry.”

It took Law a few seconds to parse through the end of that sentence. Somehow, that made Penguin more nervous. “You went to a vet.”

“Yeah.”

“I have a devil fruit.”

“We know, and-”

“I have a devil fruit that specifically helps me treat people, and I’m the sub’s doctor, let alone the captain, and you went to a vet instead?” Law’s voice got louder as he went. “Whatever hick vet you’re at is just going to make things worse. They don’t even like minks here, so any person allowed to treat them isn’t going to be any good. Where are you.”

Penguin answered him sheepishly, but tried “She’s really good though! She got the bullet out fast and her stitch work looked pretty neat, kinda like yours, so I don’t think you need to worry-”

Law hung up. Penguin returned to the operating room and set the transponder snail down, glancing at Shachi before looking over at Jack. She was about halfway through the stitch job, and was conversing with Bepo about their island hopping so far. At his return, Bepo shifted his head over. “What was that about?”

“Well…” Penguin scratched the back of his neck. “So I called captain and told him what went down…”

“Oh no…”

“...and he’s on his way.” Shachi put his head back and moaned, quietly muttering about their impending demise, as Bepo stared into space. Jack looked over. 

“What’s up with you idiots?”

Shachi glanced down. “Our captain is…. Pretty picky about who treats his crew.”

“Uh huh... “

“And… I might have told him where we are?” Penguin added, wincing slightly.

Jack’s finger’s stopped working for just a moment as she processed that, before she went back to stitching. The three Heart pirates looked at each other. Shachi spoke up again. “Aren’t you….worried?”

“Well if he’s any sort of doctor, then he’ll know you did what ya had to. Plus,” She started, tying off the last stitch and snipping the extra, “I don’t do half-assed work. If I can sew a tail back on and keep it working, I’m pretty sure I can deal with a bullet wound.”

As she got out bandages and started wrapping up Bepo’s side, Penguin decided he couldn’t argue with that. Besides, he thought, Law could be reasonable. Sometimes. 

Okay, they might be screwed.

* * *

His crew, Law thought as he stalked through the practically deserted town, were idiots. As he made his way down alleys and streets towards the address Penguin had given him, pedestrians quickly moved out of the way. He didn’t know if it was Kikoku, the Jolly Roger, or his pissed off look that made them back off, but Law didn’t particularly care. He had a bear to rescue, a crew to discipline, and a hick vet to kill. 

Ok, now people were definitely staring at him. And not because of the sword, the Jolly Roger or his general demeanor, which he’d gotten used to over the last few years. No, this was something a bit different. 

“Oi, Hat guy!”

All right, that was a new one, even for him.

Law slowed and turned to the man speaking to him. He was coming out of a bakery, ad did not look at all comfortable with talking to a pirate. So, Law wondered, why was he bothering?

“What. And make it fast, I have too many idiots to deal with today.”

That, believe it or not, didn’t endear him to the baker, but the man continued anyway, and Law had to give him props for that. “It’s just, you’re headed to the mink district?”

It was worded like a question, though Law couldn’t see any reason for it. “No, some vet.” He recited the address, and the baker visibly deflated a bit, which peaked Law’s interest. “Why?”

“Well, people going over there…. People like you ‘n me, ya see, not the animal ones…. Not that they’re animals, I mean, but they are, although-”

Law could feel the migraine crawling its way up into his cerebellum. “Get on with it,” He gritted out. 

The guy started. “Ya just gotta watch out for the Ripper, tha’s all!”

Ok, that one piqued Law’s interest. “The Ripper?”

“Some psych is running’ around the mink district and, well… nearly guttin’ normal folks getting caught up over there. Not that them folk aren’t deserving of some punishment for harassing ‘em, but…” Now the man looked as though he wanted to run, or vomit, or some new olympic combination of the two. 

The migraine was getting more and more inevitable. “”’Nearly’ gutted? That doesn’t make any sense.”

“They leave… outlines, all over the people. Carvin’ em up where all their organs are, like they could’a done it…. Jus stay outta the mink district, all right young man?”

Now Law was fairly certain that the baker had absolutely no idea who he was, besides some kid running around towards danger. And while some small part of him appreciated the effort, not only was it fairly pointless, but it had slowed him down from catching up to/beating on his crew. Nodding without any sort of real response, Law continued on, shoving that new info down with all of the other things he needed to avoid about this island. 

Organ carving was a new one though, he might have to keep that one in mind. 

Turning a corner, he finally came up on the vet building his crewmates were at. It was a sorry sight, for sure, and just cemented in Law’s mind how bad-off Bepo was on this island. Anyone allowed to treat the mink’s on this island must be hard-of-luck, especially with some vigilante running around. Reaching the door, he pounded on it, patience running out faster than before. 

After a few moments, the door opened a crack, and a woman’s voice snapped out “We’re closed.” before it slammed shut again. Law blinked twice. 

* * *

Inside, Shachi looked up as Jack returned to the room. “Who was it?”

“Some homeless asshole with a dumb hat. Anyway, Mr. Bear, you’ll want-”

“It’s Bepo.”

“Mr. _Bepo_ , You’ll want to change these bandages once-” More knocking at the door, even harder this time. Jack sighed, and stood up again, muttering something about getting shoved to the outskirts of town. Shachi, Bepo and Penguin sat and listened as she stalked to the door again. They heard it open, and the start of more angry yelling, when the very much pissed off “ _Room_.” of their captain rang through the building. A good amount of banging and yelling happened, until Law himself stepped into the room. Shachi tried to think of the last time he’d seen Law look that mad, but realized that he’d probably blocked out the memory. “Heyyy, Cap….”

“Both of you, grab any useful medical supplies that aren’t contaminated. Bepo, show me the bullet wound.”

“Bepo pointed at his side, but protested, “It’s fine now! Jack did a good job stitching it up, and the bandage job looks like yours.”

That made Law pause. He examined the bandaged side, and saw that it _was_ a good job, but something seemed… off about it… “Why is it backwards?”

“ _I…_ ” came from the doorway. “ _Am. Left. Handed._ ” Law and the others turned, and those unprepared for the sight balked at the sight of the female veterinarian standing there, holding her head at about chest level, looking furious and surprisingly calm for someone who’d been decapitated. 

Law had been right. It was going to be a very long day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This has been bouncing around my head for a while now, and I may or may not finish it, since I work at a fairly taxing job (with tigers 'n stuff, so it's fun, but still), so this is kind of a pilot chapter of sorts. Chapter postings will be random, but hey, let's see what happens.  
> Magh2os
> 
> P.S.  
> I know the name is a little on-the-nose, but hey, I'm a sucker for that sort of thing.


	2. The Ripper! Law and Jack Meet!

_*Most everything here belongs to the wonderful Eiichiro Oda. The OC's and mistakes, however, are all my own.*_

* * *

“Now,” Jack said as she stepped further into the room, “would you all, _please_ , get the absolute _fuck_ out of my house. _After_ ,” She added, “someone reattaches my head to the rest of me, and explains why the damn ‘Surgeon of Death’ is standing in _my_ operating room.”

“Hell of an operating room…” Muttered Law, looking around at the plethora of second-hand tools. Hearing it, the vet stabbed a finger in his direction. 

“I don’t want to hear it, asshole, you cut my damn head off! I was doing you a fucking favor, minks don’t get treated outside of their district, why do you think this part of the place is behind a bookshelf?”

Penguin and Shachi had been wondering about that, but they’d assumed it was just an aesthetic choice. After living with Law for so long, they’d seen stranger. 

Bepo, however, looked up at the mention of minks. “Illegal? Are there doctors in their district?” He hadn’t spent any time in that part of the island, but he doubted anywhere there had the funds to run a proper practice. 

Jack glanced over at him. “There used to be, until the new governor banned them. Said it wasn’t ‘sanitary’, whatever that means. I’ve been taking patients here, since I’m close to the border, but I’m pretty sure it’s just me. And I’m gonna get caught if a bunch of damn pirates don’t stop causing a ruckus!” With that, she turned back to Law. Shachi wanted to laugh at the way she was turning her head in her hands to look at whoever she was addressing, but he didn’t really want to be on the receiving end of her anger. 

Law, for his part, was doing his best to come up with a good retort, but he was honestly coming up blank. It was true, she had helped Bepo, and he begrudgingly agreed that her work wasn’t bad. Plus, he thought, she was taking the whole decapitation thing rather well. If more people reacted like her, the world would be a more interesting place for sure. 

“Are you even listening to me?”

Back in the present, Law saw that Jack was pointing at him again. He figured he should probably say _something_. 

“You could just put your head back on, you know.”

That didn’t seem to help. Her face got redder, somehow, as her fist clenched. “Oh, _obviously_ . Let me just do that, how silly of me. And while I do, why don’t you jerks get the _fuck_ out before I start rearranging organs by size and color.”

As she said this, Jack lifted up and set her head back on her shoulders, shifting it this way and that until it sat in place. Feeling around her throat to make sure it wouldn't fall off, she continued. "Mr. Bepo, you can take a roll of bandages. If this loser you call a captain is tossing vet offices for medical supplies, the rumor mill must be shutting down."

That one stung a bit. On top of that, rearranging organs was _his_ thing, and Law wasn't about to give that up. Straightening, he glowered at the woman. She was tall, but still a good few inches shorter than him, so he took advantage. "And what was your plan to stop us from taking what we want out of here before we leave?" Law clicked Kikoku out for good measure.

Remembering that she'd recently been holding her head like a bowling ball, Jack stopped short. There were more of them, and her scalpels were on the other side of the room. On the other hand…

"Look," she started, rubbing the back of her neck. "Can we just be even? I saved your bear's butt, at personal cost, since it's fucking _illegal_ here, I might add. So just get out and leave me alone. Deal?" She held out her hand.

Law thought a moment, and took it. "Fine. At least you're competent enough to wrap a bandage properly." 

Jack wanted to wipe that smirk off his face so badly, but he was still holding a sword in his other hand (and the whole 'Surgeon of Death' thing was still sitting in the back of her mind), so she refrained. They shook, and she pointed towards the back door. "Leave out that way, 'round the back and out the gate. The neighbors should still be at work." 

Bepo, Shachi and Penguin stood, the former walking up to Jack, wrapping his arms around her middle and lifting up. "Thanks, Ms. Vet." 

Jack froze. _So soft…._ "You're…. I mean, sure, no problem." She was pretty sure she was blushing as the bear mink set her back down. Law was looking at her still, which made it worse, so she glared at him to make herself feel better. 

As the pirate bunch ( _she couldn't think of them as a crew, there were four of them_ ) filed out, she sat down on the operating table and sighed. She hadn't expected this insanity when she woke up today, but there it went. 

She stood and moved to begin cleaning up her operating room, because those damn two lackeys were quick to follow Law's orders to raid her and had started shifting stuff around. Picking up a box, she wondered if Bepo had actually taken a roll of bandages. He was polite to her, so she didn't mind-

_Wait._

The bear mink was walking back to the ship. He'd been shot by patrollers. He was a fucking _bear_. 

If those patrollers saw him out and about, they'd wonder who patched him up so well. They were coming from the direction of the mink district, which meant they would probably believe someone there had done it, which wasn't allowed. If the district got raided…

" _Fuuuuuccckkkk._ " Jack groaned, and headed for the back door. 

* * *

Law and the others had just reached the gate to leave after a short squabble over whether they should knock the door in (Law had been outvoted) when Jack caught them. "Wait!"

The pirates turned around, and she was suddenly unsure of how to get her point across. “Uhhh…. You can’t walk around like that.” Jack gestured half-heartedly at Bepo, his bright orange jumpsuit, and bandaged-up side. “The patrollers are gonna notice you’re not, ya know…. dead.”

“They wanted me dead?” Bepo asked, looking like a sad puddle. Jack melted a bit. 

“They didn’t shoot you for the fun of it, although that’s happened. The governor has all of them keeping minks out of this side of town as much as possible. I’m not surprised they used a fight to get rid of someone.” Jack shuffled her feet. “I have some stuff that was my dad’s that might work on you…. So you can get back to your ship.”

They were all staring at her now. Bepo looked at least a little grateful, at least, so she’d work with that. “Look, I don’t like patching up the same people twice if I don’t have to, and the faster you guys get back there, the faster you sail off. There’s enough fucking problems here without a bunch of damn pirates running around.” With that, she crossed her arms and waited. 

Law was fairly certain at this point that this vet was out of her mind. Letting pirates into her house, treating minks illegally, not letting the pirates just leave after finally getting them out of said house…. He could respect the second one, the hippocratic oath was a bitch no matter how you look at it, but the other two….

Ok, now he was staring. “If you hate pirates so much, why are you being so helpful? Doesn’t seem like a plus for someone trying to be _left alone_.”

She gave him a very tired, annoyed look, but explained, “You’re coming from the direction of the mink district. If they think someone there treated him for a bullet wound, they’re gonna start asking questions, maybe going through and raiding the place. Not a good time.”

“Thought you had a vigilante looking out for them,” Law retorted, “the Ripper?” 

Shachi and Penguin looked at each other. “The _what_ now?”

Jack ignored them. “How do you even know about that?”

“Some old man warned me about it on my way down here. Said they attacked people messing with the other district.”

“Not the government goons. That’s a few too many people at once for them, I’m thinking. Besides, it’s better to stop a fight before it starts. Now come on,” Jack gestured back inside the house. “It’ll only take a second, and then you can fuck off.”

With that, she turned to go back into the house, not checking to see if they followed. They did, but she didn’t check. 

Back inside, Law looked around as Jack rummaged through a closet in what he assumed was her bedroom. The bookshelf hiding the operating room was on a track, and the track in the floor hidden by the carpet. On it were several anatomical textbooks, from human to various animal species, as well as a mink one he hadn’t heard of. If she hadn’t come back into the room at that moment, he probably would have repossessed it. For science. 

“Here,” she said, handing a large coat and hat to Bepo. “They might be a little tight, but my dad was a pretty big guy, so they should work.”

“Do you want them back?” Bepo asked, putting the hat over his ears. 

“Nah,” Jack said. “No one will miss it, and it definitely wouldn’t fit me.”

Law looked up at that one. Small island, no parents (or at least father) around, and owning a business? “How did you end up out here, anyway? You don’t look or sound like the locals.”

“Moved here about two years ago. Believe it or not, veterinarians don’t run in my family.”

“What does?”

“Engineers. Ok, I think you’re ready to go.” Bepo had the coat on now, and as long as no one looked too hard at him, they would likely make it back to the ship with no problems. 

Bepo walked up to Jack. “Thanks again, Ms. Vet.” He patted her head, and she blushed again, hard. 

“Just don’t get caught up doing anything else dumb. And don’t let that guy drag you into anything stupid,” She added, pointing at Law. “No one with tattoos that bad makes good decisions.”

“Says the lady with none.” Law retorted, halfway out the door again. 

“None on my hands, that’s for sure.” Jack turned to Shachi and Penguin. “You guys said you left your bags by the cafe? Mr. Delgati’s? He would have probably saved them for you.”

Shachi nodded, but Penguin jumped in. “Hold on, this is all fine and dandy, but what were you two talking about out there? The _Ripper_? I’m not walking out into whatever that is.” He crossed his arms, looking back and forth at both of them. “Well?”

They both blanked. “Aren’t you supposed to be the captain?” Jack whispered at Law after a few moments.

“You’re the one that lives here.”

He wasn’t wrong. “There’s a vigilante running around in the mink district. They deal with the people who go over there and harass them, and discourage anyone else from trying it. Mostly they just maim ‘em, but every so often a repeat offender or a crazy gets tossed in a gutter. Good for them, in my opinion. Someone’s gotta stand up to the bastard running this joint. This shit can’t last.”

That kicked up a few memories for Law, ones he didn’t feel like dealing with right now. It wasn’t the first time he’d seen someone stand against something, someone, who shouldn’t have had any power in the first place. Law shook his head. “We’re not headed for the mink district, we’re headed for port. We can stop and grab anything you three left behind, but then we board. I need another day for the part you ordered to get finished, Shachi, but then we’re out of here.”

“Aw jeez, another day of you crazies hanging out here?” Jack faked a faint. “I don’t think I can handle it.”

“Aw come on,” Shachi said, handing an arm on her shoulder. “We’re pirates! Making things more fun, am I right?”

“You three knocked on my front door in the middle of the day with a bullet wound.”

“See? Fun!”

Jack shoved him off with a smirk. “You put up with all this, Bepo?”

“Bepo loves us!” Penguin cried, grabbing the bear’s coated arm. “We’re crewmates, that’s how it goes.”

Bepo didn’t respond to that, but he did pick Penguin up and put him on his shoulder. Jack was suddenly happy about how tall her ceilings were, even if they did make cleaning day annoying. 

“Well, anyone following a guy called ‘the Surgeon of Death’ around has to be at least a little crazy, I guess.” Jack laughed, pushing Shachi again as he tried to return his elbow to her shoulder. 

Law watched as they interacted. Having the four of them by themselves on the Polar Tang had created a kind of camaraderie that was hard to break in to, but this woman, Jack, seemed to slip in just fine. ‘ _Don’t need a vet, though,_ ’, thought Law, before shaking off the thought. They already had enough trouble with just the four of them. “Come on you three, let’s head back.”

With that, Law led Bepo, Shachi and Penguin out the back door. Jack followed them out, and at the gate, called behind them, “Don’t let the Ripper get you!” before laughing and going back inside. 

* * *

“Hey, it’s you guys!”

Law, Bepo, Penguin and Shachi had just picked their stuff up from Delgati’s cafe, and were headed back to the Tang. As they made their way down a side street, Annie, the mink girl from earlier, popped out from behind another barrel. Bepo wondered if that was a thing for her. 

“Didja find my friend?”

Shachi leaned over to Law. “This was the kid who sent us to Jack’s place.”

Penguin bent down in front of her. “Yeah, ya little goon, but ya coulda warned us about the whole _illegal_ thing. Or the Ripper, that woulda been good info too!”

Annie balked at the second part. “You know about the Ripper? Did Jack tell you?”

_That_ was an interesting reaction, Law thought. Even if this vigilante was helping the minks out, most kids didn’t get excited about a near-murderer running around town. 

Penguin interrupted his train of thought. “Just the basics, sounds like a crazy person if you ask me. Whoever they are, they’d make a pretty good pirate if they wanted to!”

Annie smiled at that. “She sure would, that’s for sure!”

“ _She_?” Penguin and Shachi both looked at her. 

“THEY!” Annie yelled, panicked. Law was suddenly very interested in how this conversation was going. “They would be good! As a pirate I mean. I just…” She looked around for the words. “I want it to be a girl ‘cause that’d be cool. “Cause heroes are always boys ‘n stuff, and that’s dumb…. Or do you guys think boys are the only ones who can be cool?”

Penguin and Shachi were quick to reassure her that yeah, girls can be cool, they weren’t saying otherwise, that’d be mean, etcetera. Law, however, was thinking. Bepo could see him doing it, and it was honestly concerning. He leaned over as the two watched the others bicker about which heroes were cooler. “Weren’t we going to make this a short trip, Captain?”

“It will be,” answered Law. “We’ve still got another day of forced leave. In the meantime, why not see the sights?”

“Murderers aren’t sights, Law.”

“According to them, she hasn’t killed people who haven’t deserved it. Besides, we don’t have a lot of room to talk. We’re pirates.”

Bepo thought about that for a moment, and nodded at the sentiment. Then he thought about what Law had said. “She?”

Law looked back at the little mink girl. “Kid knows more than she’s saying. I think I might be out late tonight.”

Bepo sighed. “Yes, Captain…”

* * *

Hours later, Law sat with his back to a chimney, about three blocks into the mink district. Kikoku rested against his shoulder, and the cool air felt nice now that the snow had stopped. He’d been following around a couple of delinquents who had been graffiti-ing walls, smashing windows, and generally being a nuisance throughout the business part of the block. He was getting pretty close to dealing with them himself, not only for Bepo but for the sake of general sanity, when he saw a shadow on the building across the street. 

It was human-sized, and moving quickly along the edge of the roof towards some gutter pipes. Shimmying down with a speed and silence that impressed Law, the shadow slipped behind the two guys as they were painting another wall. This time, it was a crude drawing of a mink person with x’s for eyes. Apparently, it was someone they had beaten down earlier in the day. Law’s hand clenched around Kikoku unconsciously as they laughed about sending the mink into the dirt, just for being out of their district. 

Luckily, the shadow-person felt the same, as they stepped into the glow of a nearby street lamp. They wore a heavy leather jacket that obscured the shape of their torso, black pants, heavy boots, and a mask shaped like a skull. It covered their head and went down over their nose, mimicking the bone structure of some large cat, top teeth and all. The two kids didn’t stand a chance. 

They definitely knew it, too, from the sounds escaping from them. Law hadn’t heard that particular pitch in a while, but it didn’t do his ear drums any favors. Luckily, the sound ended abruptly. The shadow had unclipped what looked like a sickle from her side, one of two, and hit the screamer over the head with the back of it. The other attempted to fight back with a switchblade pulled from nowhere, but it was blocked effortlessly. The shadow blocked two more poor attempts before feinting to the side and clubbing this one in the head as well. 

The two delinquents were out cold, and the shadow was wasting no time in stripping off their shirts. They pulled out a smaller blade, and carefully began dragging it across the skin. Law was interested for sure. They did it light enough to avoid waking the victim, but put enough weight behind it to leave marks that would show for some time, if not scar. He wondered if there was any sort of anesthetic on the blade ...which was not what he was there for. 

Standing quietly, Law made his way down to street level as the shadow took their time with their work. He came up behind them, and as he entered the circle of light, wasn’t surprised when the person stood and turned abruptly, sickle ready to defend or attack There was a small stutter of movement when they got a good look at Law, but otherwise, they were silent. 

“I’m fairly certain the ‘do no harm’ part of the hippocratic oath frowns on this sort of thing, but I could have read it wrong. What do you think?”

The shadow paused for a long while, before replying, “I took my own oath. ‘Do no harm, but take no shit’. These two look pretty shit to me, Surgeon of Death.” With that, she rushed him.

Law had never fought someone who used a sickle before, let alone two, so the first few minutes of their quarrel were a learning curve. The other person could catch around the blade of Kikoku and misdirect it, while simultaneously threaten with the sharpened outside edge. With two, they could trap his nodachi in a lock, which Law’s opponent did, following up with a few kicks towards his legs. Law jumped back, sliding Kikoku out of the lock before slicing upwards towards the other person’s torso. The Ripper blocked it with one sickle and struck out in an arc with the second, aiming at Law’s throat. Law swung his upper body backwards, feeling the air as the sickle’s blade rushed past him, before spinning Kikoku vertically and bringing it down in one heavy motion. The Ripper sidestepped, then jumped up onto the dull side of the blade before rushing at him with both weapons. Law hadn’t expected that, as most people didn’t voluntarily stand on their enemy’s weapon while it was in use. Luckily, he had his own ace up his sleeve. Dropping to the side, Law wrenched his blade out from under his opponent, putting them off balance as he shouted “Room!”

When they turned to face him again, he was suddenly gone. The Ripper whipped around, bewildered, to look at the blue dome they had suddenly found themselves in, when Law appeared behind them, having switched places with a stone along the border of the street. With one swift movement, he swung Kikoku out, and sheathed it just as quickly, watching as the Ripper’s head tumbled to the ground. 

There was a moment of silence that stretched into the night, before a short laugh rang out to shatter it.

“Are you going to make this a habit?” Said Jack, as she bent down to retrieve her missing cranium.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So.... wow. I didn't expect that sort of response when I posted the first chapter. Thank you all so much for your comments and kudos. Here's my gift to you on New Years Eve, after a long day of shoveling cat enclosures!  
> Happy New Year everyone.  
> Magh2os


	3. The Truth Revealed! A Storm Brews in the Distance...

“So, how’d you figure it out?” Asked Jack as she reattached her head, wincing beneath the mask as she felt her neck come back together. It certainly wasn’t something you could get used to fast, she thought. Not that she wanted to get used to her head getting cut off.

“Your little lackey isn’t the most subtle thing out there, plus, the pieces fit. I’m surprised you’ve lasted this long.”

Jack laughed again. “I’ve told Annie about talking to strangers, but she’s too nice for her own good. You’d think pirates might be her limit, but I’m pretty sure Red-haired Shanks himself could set foot on this island and she’d still ask if he’d play checkers with her. And then kick his ass at checkers, she’s a pro.

As for how I’m still running around, most people jump to blaming the minks for my actions, although they can’t get any proof. Since banning them from practicing medicine, none of the judges have a good way of explaining their incredible knowledge of human anatomy.”

“Incredible might be a little generous,” started Law as he walked over to examine the bodies (she stuck her tongue out at his back, and he ignored it), “but it is an interesting scare tactic. When did you start?”

“They started enforcing a curfew a few months ago, right at sunset. It was supposedly to keep everyone from clashing, but really it’s just trapped the minks in their own district and given the patrollers an excuse to punish any mink over on their side after a certain time of day. They don’t regulate people crossing into this part of town, so I figured I might as well start doing it myself.”

“And then killing some of them?”

Jack frowned at that and looked up at the sky, the stars, searching for answers that would never be there. “There’s just.... No point sometimes is there? I mean, you’ve got guys like these beating down a kid so hard I nearly had to reattach his ear. He was maybe eleven. Now he’s stuck inside until it heals just so I can keep up the work. And these two? They aren’t even the worst!”

She turned to look at Law, and then sighed. “They were kids too, once upon a time. What happened between then and now that made them so...”

Jack looked down at them, their blood just beginning to stain the streets. “...broken.”

Law didn’t, couldn’t, answer that. He’d seen what a terrible person someone could grow up to be, despite everything. In the right environment, anyone could become a monster. 

“I guess you’re right, since we seem to have so many around here.”

Law looked up, a bit startled, as he hadn’t realized he’d said that last bit out loud. Jack was still looking down, however. 

“I suppose I should finish my work here, otherwise people will start asking more questions. Maybe after this they’ll learn their lesson.”

It was a dim hope, but she held it like a torch in the darkness. 

Law stood and watched as Jack finished her carvings, trying to find answers in the blood that weren’t in the stars.

* * *

They left the mink district a short while later. According to Jack, fewer people were daring to cause trouble there at night. 

“Who knows why?” She had said with a smirk, wiping blood from her hands as they walked down the street. She’d removed her helmet and heavy jacket, wrapping them up and stashing them away in a backpack. Together, she and Law walked back towards her house. He told himself it was to be polite, but after their recent fight, she could probably handle most anything a small island like this was capable of throwing at her. 

No, Law was curious. She’d moved to an island in the middle of the North Blue, away from her family, set up shop and then decided to be a vigilante for the hell of it. It would have been funny if it hadn’t reminded him so much of his own bad decisions. 

‘ _ Well... _ ’ He thought of his current life, on the Polar Tang with a crew that could be annoying, yes, but were reliable and good at their jobs. ‘ _ Maybe not all of his decisions were bad. _ ’

He looked over at Jack. She’d gone silent for some time, looking around at the houses they were passing. 

“Ya know the minks were the first ones to even welcome me here?” She turned her head towards him. “Annie’s foster mom and her. They brought me cookies. It was two weeks before one of my neighbors bothered to remember my actual name, and I’d been to dinner at their house twice.”

Law glanced to the side. “Sounds about right. When Bepo and I first met, I had to save him from Shachi and Penguin. He attached himself to me after that, won’t leave me alone. Acts like I’m some kind of degenerate who can’t take care of himself.”

“After having met your bear, he’s probably right. Seems like the kind of guy that knows who needs a babysitter.”

The withering glance Law threw left her decidedly un-withered, but at that point, they’d reached her house. Looking up at the sign, he had a thought. “Do you do any actual vet work here?”

“I’m gonna guess you were too busy cutting my head off to notice, but there is a legitimate office and small animal care room at the front of it.” Jack gestured for him to come inside. There, now that he was paying attention, Law saw some waiting room chairs, a desk with a few papers piled up, and a door reading ‘Dr. Jaquelyn W’. He assumed that was where the real customers brought their little animal patients. 

“So you really  _ are _ a doctor,” Law smirked at her. “Thought you said you took your own oath.”

Jack glowered. “There’s not even an official oath for vets anyway, so you can screw off with that.”

“I feel like there is.”

“Well, it’s probably not about humans then, it’s about animals.” Jack threw up her hands in exasperation. “I give up with you. RIP to the fucking crew you end up with, because they’ll probably all die of technicalities.”

She paused at that. “Are you guys headed to the Grand Line? Seems like a pretty small crew for that sort of adventure.”

“We’ll pick up more people along the way,” Law answered vaguely. In truth, he didn’t much care how many people were with them. As long as they had the Tang, they could likely get out of most messes, and good fighters wouldn’t be hard to come by once they reached that great sea. 

He hoped they wouldn’t be too annoying, but he also wouldn’t bet money on it. Law would never be that lucky.

They moved through the second door, the one headed to a small office where the secret bookshelf-door was. Jack ignored it and walked up to a biohazards bin standing against the wall. Instead of opening it, though, she lifted the entire thing by the base, sliding it vertically along the wall. It revealed a track that the bin itself rode on, and a small hideaway underneath in the floor. It wasn’t a room by any means, but a fair amount of space for hiding things. Law looked on, amused, as she stashed away the backpack within. “You seem to have a lot of those doors hanging around.”

“They’re pretty easy to put together, honestly. I figured If anyone even got this far in the first place, they wouldn’t want to mess with potential tetanus.”

“The engineering that runs in your family, I assume?”

Jack looked up at him and grinned. “Never assume things, it makes an ass out of ‘u’ and me.” She paused. “You’re right though. My grandfather, my dad, my brother…. It’s part of the reason I left. Love ‘em to death, but I couldn’t help but feel like I was disappointing them. I did pick up a few things though, and trick doors were one of them.”

“And the mediocre fighting skills?” Law smirked.

“Pretty sure if you hadn’t fucking teleported, I would have won that fight.” Jack shook her head. “No, that was an attempt to keep me out of trouble, believe it or not. I grew up with a marine base next door, did I ever mention that? They had a retiree offering martial arts and hand-to-hand combat lessons, and my parents signed me up to try and curb my rebellious streak.” She laughed. “Fat lotta good that did, now I’m an ocean away running an illegal operating room with some vigilante work on the side.”

That was… a lot of info for Law to process. “A marine base an ocean away.”

“Oh yeah, I grew up in the Grand Line.”

Now Law just stared at her.

“Too much?”

“Perhaps a little, yeah. How did you even end up here?”

“I used one of my dad’s favors and hitched a ride on a marine ship through the calm belt. First stop, Calamon, and I hopped off.”

“Huh.”

They stood there for a moment. 

“Can I have that book?”

“Jack turned at the non-sequitur. “Uhhh, what?”

Law gestured at the mink anatomy text. “That one. I don’t have it. Where did you get it, anyway?”

“Jack stared for a few seconds. “Um, secondhand store. Sure? I’d like to transcribe a few things from it, but otherwise, yeah, you can take it. When do you guys set sail?”

“We’re waiting on a part right now, should be done sometime tomorrow. Our hope is sunset, but if testing takes longer then Shachi and Penguin expect, the next morning.”

“I still can’t believe those two are your engineers. How have any of you survived this long?”

“Bepo.”

“Well, that makes sense.”

Law stretched and hefted Kikoku onto his shoulder. “I should probably get back, speaking of Bepo. He’s tends to worry about unnecessary things.”

“I think a crew worrying about their captain is pretty normal, actually.” Jack laughed, and then held out her hand. “I’ll transcribe what I need from the book and you can pick it up before you leave. Tomorrow evening?”

Law took her hand. “Tomorrow evening it is, Ms. Vet.”

“Call me Jack, Surgeon of Death.”

“Law.”

* * *

Law walked up the gangplank and onto the Polar Tang. As he thought, Bepo was up waiting for him. As he made his way across the deck, the bear mink turned.

“Was your hunch correct?”

Law smirked. “As usual.”

Bepo looked back out to sea. “She’s very nice.”

Law had no response to that.

“How long do you think she’ll last?”

Law didn’t have an answer to that either, but he felt like he should say something. “She’s a good fighter. Set up isn’t bad. Who knows.”

Bepo shuffled his feet. “We could.... Bring her with.”

It wasn’t a question. Law turned to his navigator, probably one of the closest people to him for many years. 

“She wouldn’t come. There’s a lot to do here, and it would bring her back to the Grand Line.”

“Back to it?”

“She’s from there apparently.”

“Ah.” Bepo looked down. “What time is the engine piece supposed to be finished tomorrow?” 

Law noted the subject change, but didn’t mention it. “Supposedly noon, but we’ll see. It’s a small island.”

“Yeah,” Bepo replied. “It is.”

* * *

The next day, Penguin and Shachi went ashore to pick up the last part they needed for the engine. Law had been right, it hadn’t been ready at noon, and as the two engineers lugged it back onto the Tang only a few hours before sunset, he felt less and less sure that they’d leave before the following morning.

Because of the danger of being seen, Bepo remained on board, checking positions and mapping out their route. They had one, maybe two more stops before they reached Reverse Mountain, and from there, the Grand Line. The ocean that held the one piece, various adventures and dangers, and  _ him _ . 

Law knew that at one point or another, he’d confront Doflamingo. He had to, for Corazon. How, and when, and where, he couldn’t begin to guess, but it would happen, and he still had to figure out what would happen to his crew. 

He shook the thoughts out of his head. They were still in the North Blue, for crying out loud. He had time. 

Penguin came out to the deck. “Part’s installed, starting the tests now. But, uh…”

Law looked at him as he shuffled one foot. “It won’t be done before nightfall, will it.”

“No, probably not. We could try and leave beforehand, or just a few hours in...” Penguin started, but petered out as Law shook his head. 

“I don’t want to leave in the dark, or risk an equipment failure. There were a lot of random rock formations on our way in, no sense risking a wreck just for a few extra hours of travel time. We’ll get to the Grand Line when we get there.”

“Yes, Captain.”

Suddenly, Bepo was with them. They took a moment to stare at him before Law managed to ask, “Why are you wearing that?”

The bear was back in the coat and hat that Jack had given him to get back to the Polar Tang. On top of that, he was carrying a box that was poorly wrapped in old newspaper. 

Penguin laughed. “Got a hot date, Bepo?”

The bear glared at him. “No. I’m going ashore to say goodbye to Jack.”

They all went silent at that. Besides Penguin and Shachi, none of them had even stepped foot in the town all day, too busy preparing for their departure. Not that it was necessary, there was no reason for them to do it. 

“She did patch me up after all.”

Ok, maybe one reason. 

“I’m going with you,” Started Law, “you can’t get caught by patrollers again.”

Bepo looked like he might cry. “Captain….”

“I have a book to pick up that she promised me, I haven’t gotten around to getting it. Come on.” Law turned to make his way to the gangplank.

“Ooh, I’ll come!” Said Penguin, pulling up his boiler suit. “Shachi and I need snacks before we leave.” 

“Didn’t you two get rations yesterday?”

Penguin looked at Bepo with something akin to disgust. “Rations and snacks are different!”

“Sorry....”

* * *

It was long after sunset, so the streetlamps were all that lit their way as the Heart Pirates (minus Shachi) made their way towards the vet office. Penguin stopped at a small shop that hadn’t closed and picked up a few things, while Bepo did his best to remain as far into the shadows as possible. They saw a few groups patrolling here and there, but no one stopped them as they twisted and turned down streets and alleys. The trip was going pretty well, all things considered.

Later, when he thought about it, Law would pinpoint this as the exact moment when things started to get tangled. 

It was Bepo who noticed something first. His left ear perked up and he turned his head suddenly this way and that. Penguin looked up at him, noticing his confused face. “What’s up, Beps?”

“I think I hear…” and then Bepo seemed to realize exactly what it was that he heard, because he turned abruptly down an alley towards a dead end. Law and Penguin followed behind. 

“What is it Bepo?”

The bear mink ignored Law’s question, instead sniffing and searching the darkness before coming up to a barrel shoved over to the side, out of the way. As the other two approached, they finally heard what Bepo had - soft sobs and sniffs coming from within. Bepo looked at his companions, and Law nodded. He then lifted up the lid to reveal two small fox ears and a mop of red hair. “Annie?”

There was a gasp from within, and then the hair and ears shuffled until a face appeared. She looked afraid, at first, and Law wasn’t completely sure why (although there was a bear looking back down at her, as well as a bunch of pirates to boot) until he remembered about the curfew. It was a few hours after sunset, and if she was caught here, blocks outside of the mink district, she would be punished. 

When she saw them, however, Annie’s tears started again. “Penguin guy… Mr. Bear…” She stood up, wriggling slightly to drag a backpack out with her. She clung to it like a lifeline, pressing it against her torso. The pack rang a bell with Law, but he wasn’t sure why. Bepo lifted her out of the barrel, setting her on the ground before plopping down in front of her. Penguin bent down to her level. “What’s wrong, kid?”

“You have to…” She was sniffling and hiccuping, the words tripping out of her mouth. “The patrollers…. she said you were nice pirates. So, ya gotta save her…”

Laws throat tightened. The backpack. It was familiar because he’d seen it before. Recently, when it was stuffed behind a secret door…

Annie looked at all of them, tears streaking down her cheeks as she hugged the pack to her chest. “They took her. They came to the house and they took her. Please, ya gotta save Jack!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is mostly talking and exposition, so sorry about that.... also the cliffhanger.... XD  
> Thanks everyone for the kudos, comments, and just in general being badass pirates (or marines, whatever floats your goat).  
> Magh2os


	4. Disaster! Jack is Discovered, and the Heart Pirates Plan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everything belongs to Oda, except my mistakes and add-ons.

_Several hours earlier…._

Jack had already had a long day. It happened occasionally, but today she’d had a surprising influx of actual patients to deal with. It felt nice, in a way, to be doing the job she’d come here to do. However, it had also meant she procrastinated transcribing the mink anatomy book she had promised the Heart Pirate’s captain, Law. After closing up, she worked diligently to copy the few pages she wanted. 

If she was being honest, she didn’t really need to. Jack had gone through the book so many times over the last few months, she had it mostly memorized. Having a hard copy of some information made her feel better, however, so she worked until after sunset to finish.

Rubbing her eyes, Jack sat up and stretched, glancing out the window at the darkening streets. She wondered when Law would pick it up, but knew that there was probably a lot that went into getting a pirate ship ready to sail. 

Suddenly, she heard rustling coming from the operating room. Standing quickly, Jack moved towards it, before quiet taps came from the other side. A muffled “Jack! Jack, it’s me!” came from the bookshelf, and Jack laughed. 

“Isn’t it past curfew, ya little devil?”

Grunting as the shelf shifted along the track ( _I need to oil this, it’s loud as fuck..._ ), the opening revealed the little fox mink, grinning from ear to ear. “Hi Jackie!”

“Don’t call me that.” With a smirk, Jack moved aside to let her into the study. “You should be home, kid. What if you get caught on your way back?”

“I’m not gonna get caught, I’m a fox! Super sneaky!”

Jack laughed. The two of them had spent many evenings like this, Annie bringing her news from the other side of town, Jack teaching her tricks and tips of her trade. Annie’s foster mother, Alannah, was a good woman, but had a lot of kids under her care. It wasn’t much, but Jack felt better taking in some of Annie’s time. She was a good one, smart and clever, and Jack hoped…

She hoped that Annie would succeed where Jack might one day fail. 

Tonight though, wasn’t the time for those sorts of conversations. As they sat and shared news and such, Annie looked over. “I saw those pirates on their way back to the port. Didja fix Mr. Bear up good?”

“Oh I did, and their captain was damn rude about it.”

“The skinny guy with the funny hat? He’s their captain?”

Jack chuckled. “It’s a pretty dumb hat, right? But yeah, he is. You have to be more careful about the people you talk to, Annie, these ones had a bounty and everything.”

Annie pouted at that. “You don’t have to tell me that, I know what I’m doing. Besides, they were all nice…”

“Maybe these ones were, but the next ones might not be. Although,” Jack muttered, looking back at the book she’d been transcribing, “‘Surgeon of Death’ isn’t the nicest moniker for anyone.”

_Then again_ , Jack thought, _ _neither is ‘the Ripper’_. _Still though, there was a difference between the evil you knew, and the one you didn’t. Pirates were an unknown factor, one that could change like the seasons between crews. Still, the Heart Pirate’s had been polite, in the end, if not kind. The fact that they had a mink with them as their navigator certainly helped, too.

Jack glanced at Annie, who had become quietly engrossed in a book off the shelf. She sighed, slowly working up the conviction to send her back to her home, when someone pounded on her front door.

There was silence, as the two of them looked at each other, and then the pounding resumed, followed by a loud voice. 

“Governor’s patrol, open up! We have a person suspected of being out of their district.”

Well shit. Jack motioned for Annie to get up, silently moving across the room towards the hazards bin. After glancing at the door, she lifted it, covering the sound of wheels on the track with her own voice. “It’s after dark, and I’m closed. Can’t this wait until a respectable hour? Tomorrow?”

As Annie crawled into the small space, squishing Jack’s backpack against the wall, the patroller answered. “The governor wants all incidents dealt with immediately. Neighbors have reported mink activity around your business before, miss Wayfair.”

“Making me sound old…” muttered Jack. “Alright, hold on, I’m coming to unlock the door.”

After double-checking that the biohazards bin looked as unsuspicious as possible, Jack made her way to the front of the shop, turning the lock and preparing to open the door. Unfortunately, her politeness was squandered, as the door flew directly into her forehead, sending Jack flying back and onto the floor. The patrollers paid her no mind, storming in and beginning to search the front room.

“Oi,” Jack started, rubbing her head where it had hit the floor. “No need to be rude. And since when do you guys have permission to start tossing houses?”

The lead patroller turned back to her, and Jack grimaced. It was Kainnar, one of the Governor’s lackeys. They didn’t have the best history after she’d kicked his ass in cards, and then for defending the minks. He glared down at her. “Special circumstances. Besides,” he snarled, “not like anyone cares. You’re almost as much of an outsider as those damn animals.”

Jack took that as a complement. Standing, she trailed behind the patrollers, wincing as books came crashing down from her bookshelf and drawers flew from the desk. It seemed to her that they were just trashing the place instead of looking for anything.

Kainnar looked more and more pissed off as time went by. They’d checked her bedroom already, and other than the laundry she hadn’t done yet, there was nothing to be found. The actual veterinary room was mostly bare besides the operating table and a few shelves of tools and supplies. 

Jack stood by, trying to look as innocent as possible. If they exhausted themselves, they’d leave, and then she could sneak Annie out through the back. If she took the back roads, staying in the shadows and going over the wall instead of through the district entrance, they would have a good chance.

All this went through Jack’s head as she watched Kainnar take another walk through her office, glaring at her shelves and certificates. “Are you done now? I’d like to get some sleep before I open tomorrow.”

Kainnar turned at that, looking ready to strike her. “Shut up you woman! I know you’ve got something hiding in here. People coming and going at all hours, minks comfortable walking through the area.” With that, he went to toss more things. Jacked sighed, resigned to the cleanup she had in her future, when she saw him headed towards the hazards bin. 

“H-hey,” She started, clearing her throat to remove the bundle of nerves that had appeared there, “Careful with those. The needles in there have old medications, blood…. nasty stuff.”

He glared at her again, but looked sideways at the bin, weighing his options. Despite her warning, though, he began making his way towards it.

Internally, Jack began cursing heavily. She looked around the room in a panic, her weapons hidden with Annie in the compartment Kainnar was about to reveal. Her tools were in the other room, or behind the bookshelf in the secret operating room-

The secret room.

Jack took a deep breath, cursing the luck of whatever ancestor had pissed off the gods, and walked to the bookshelf, casually leaning against the side and pushing it slightly, the track making a short screech. Kainnar spun around immediately, the noise unmistakeable in the silent room. “What was that?”

Jack lied through her teeth, knowing it was hopeless, but willing to try. “Old wooden bookshelves. They don’t tend to hold together very well.”

Kainnar looked at her, then marched forward, pushing her to the side as he examined the shelf. That close, and with it already shifted slightly out of place, the track was obvious. Grinning in triumph, He shoved it open, the metal wheels shrieking with effort as the door to her operating room was revealed. The larger table and equipment were unmistakable, and the secret entrance sealed the deal. Jack winced as Kainnar grabbed her arm, calling to the rest on the patrollers. “Men! Get in here, confiscate this equipment, and bring me some cuffs. Wayfair, you’re under arrest for illegally taking mink patients.”

With that, he slammed her against the wall, the headache already forming becoming a pounding pain in her skull. “You’re done for, Wayfair. Governor’s gonna split a seam when he finds out, and I can’t wait to watch you swing.”

Jack just glared. In the haze of getting cuffed and roughly led to the door, all she could think of was Annie. Hopefully, she’d get out when they’d left, and make it back to the mink district. After this, maybe she’d stay out of trouble. A small smile lit Jack’s face. _Fat chance_.

With that, she was led out of her home, and into the dark.

* * *

Law turned away as Penguin went to pat the girl on the head, sobs shaking her form as she tried to muffle the sound against Jack’s backpack. As he looked down the alley, Bepo turned to him. “What now, captain?”

Law weighed his options. In truth, they didn’t need to do anything. They had their part, and by morning, they could be off this island and headed back to their goal - the Grand Line. The Heart Pirates had no obligation to the kid, nor to the vet.

Except they did. Law glanced over at his first mate, his navigator. She had treated his wound without a second thought, at personal risk. Even if it hadn’t led the patrollers to her, it certainly hadn’t drawn their attention away. 

Plus, with the way Bepo was looking at him, he figured there wasn’t much of a choice anyway. Sighing in resignation, Law turned back to the girl. “You’re coming with us to our sub. Penguin, head over the Ms. Jack’s home and see if anything was left behind that could help us find her.”

Annie perked up, hopping off of the barrel and stumbling towards Law. “You’re… you’re really gonna help her?” Without waiting for a response, she tackled his legs, holding on to both him and the backpack for dear life. “Thank you! Thank you thank you, I knew you wouldn’t leave her! I knew you were nice!”

Law felt extremely uncomfortable, both with the girl herself and the memories of his own sister that it forced back into his mind, but he pushed past it. Pulling the kid off of himself and handing her over to Bepo, he started down the street. “Come on. We’re heading back.”

With that, they headed off to the Polar Tang, ready to plan a jailbreak.

When Penguin returned, he bore no good news. “The place has been ransacked,” He said, sitting down at an empty bench across from Bepo. Down the table, Annie was inhaling some leftover soup Bepo had warmed up for her. 

“The bookshelf door was wide open, and it looked like they had either taken or destroyed everything that was in there. I snuck out before any of them came back, so they aren’t quite done with the place either. The neighbors were out watching the commotion, though, and I heard one of them mention a holding jail in a building adjacent to the town hall. If she’s anywhere, I’d put money on there.”

Annie piped up at that. “That’s near the shopping district! The execution platform is there too…” She quieted at that. “Do you think she’s ok?”

Law didn’t answer. Knowing Jack though, she’d probably sassed her way into more trouble than she was already in. If they found out about the Ripper, there was a good chance she wouldn’t even make it to morning.

He had a thought then, but Shachi chiming in pushed it away. “Peng and I were down there ordering and picking up the part for the sub. The town hall was nice, but the buildings around it were older. There was a pretty sturdy looking one next door, so that’s probably it.” He paused. “Saw the platform too. Bunch of old handing stations, though a few of them had new ropes.”

Law was quiet again, running a few things through his brain, before he glanced over at Annie. Without a word, he reached over and grabbed the backpack, which she’d set to the side in order to eat. Ignoring her protests, he unzipped it, glancing down at the contents. Heavy jacket, two sickes, a few scalpels, and the cat skull mask she wore to conceal her identity. Lifting it out, he examined it, turning it over in his hands, before holding it up next to Penguin’s head.

“Umm… what are you doing, cap?” Penguin sat still as Law did silent measurements in his head, slouching once he pulled away again. 

“You said there were buildings nearby? Any with a good vantage point that’s close to the platform?”

Shachi thought for a moment, before replying, “Yeah, there’s one. Think it’s a butcher shop. Why?”

Annie had wandered over, and was now tugging on Law’s sleeve. “Are you gonna bust her out Mr. Pirate? She can’t get killed, not after everything!”

Law pushed her face away. “She’s not going to die. She’s too stubborn for that, for one, and we owe her.” He looked at his crew. “We’re not doing it tonight though. If she disappears suddenly, they’ll blame the minks. If we’re going to do this, we have to do it loud, and then get out of here.” He glanced down at Annie. “And she’s not going to be able to stay with you.”

Annie gasped as Shachi leaned forward. “Whadya mean, captain? What are we waiting for?”

Law held up the skull. “The Ripper is going to make their final appearance on Calamon, and Jack’s not going to be wearing the mask. She’ll still be screwed for running her illegal practice, but at least she won’t be on the hook for murder.” Law sat back and stretched, the day starting to catch up with him. “If the island is so serious about treating mink patients, I have a feeling they’ll cut straight to judgement and punishment. We’ll go into town early tomorrow to get the timing and lay of the land, and then pull it off at the execution platform. We’ll be cutting it close, but it’ll make it obvious that the minks weren’t responsible.”

“So then…” started Penguin, “Who’s the Ripper going to be?”

Law grinned. “You are. The Ripper is joining the Heart Pirates, and Jack is too. Whether she likes it or not.”

* * *

Miles away, Jack sneezed in her cell. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey.


	5. A Close Call! Showdown at the Execution Platform

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's Oda's, except for the add-ons and mistakes.

Jack had had worse nights.

The cell they’d shoved her in was cold, but watertight. She spent the first few hour pressed against the cool stone of the floor, soothing the bruises she’d gotten from getting slammed into several walls. _Several more than necessary_ , she thought wryly. 

Honestly, she was disappointed. All her work, all the time spent getting her business together, proving to herself that she could be her own person. Down the drain.

She hoped Annie was ok. The kid was noisy, obnoxious, and not careful enough. She was also a close friend, despite their difference in age. Jack thought of her like a sister, and she hoped that Annie had made it home. 

If keeping her safe was the last thing she could do for her, then she’d smile all the way into the abyss.

Absently, she wondered if the Heart Pirates were still around. She’d promised Law the anatomy book, and she’d actually looked forward to handing it off. Verbally sparring with him had been fun, and most of the people around her age on the island weren’t nearly as interesting.

Maybe he’d raid her house for it. Those books could have a new home, with someone who would appreciate them. 

If only she could get the same.

Jack was startled out of her thoughts by a rapping against the door. When she looked up, she was surprised to see Governor Dern, along with Kainnar’s brunette mug, standing on the other side of the bars. She sat up. “Late for a visit, isn’t it? I was just about to turn in.”

Dern shook his head, smoothing down his gray suit with one hand. “You had such promise when you showed up on Calamon. Straight off of a Marine ship you were.” He clicked his tongue at Jack. “Your family would be so disappointed.”

“Don’t talk about them like you know them.” Jack hissed, sitting up taller. “You’ve abandoned half of the people you swore to care for. I was doing your job for you.”

Kainnar chuckled as Dern continued, “Those people aren’t supposed to be here. They have their own country to live in, and they should be so lucky to keep that. Why that colony was allowed to continue on this island is beyond me. As for you,” 

Dern frowned, looking the part of a disappointed parent, “The evidence found at your residence supersedes any trial. Getting this town back in order is my top priority, and ending this particular problem has moved to the top of my list. You’ll be spending the rest of the night here, and tomorrow with the executioner.” 

With that, the governor turned to walk back up the stairs. Kainnar stood grinning at her still, one hand curled around a bar of her cell.

“What do you want, frog breath?”

Kainnar kept grinning. “Just looking forward to finally seeing that pretty little head of yours at the end of a rope. They never got you pegged down as the damn Ripper, but the whole town will rest easy when that menace disappears with you.”

He turned then, satisfied that he’d said his part. The urge to throw something at his back was high, but with her hands cuffed behind her back, the task was impossible. Instead, she watched him disappear up the stairs, trying to get him to catch fire with her mind.

It didn’t work, and she was alone in her cell again.

After another hour of silence, it really began to hit her. Pressing her knees into her eyes, Jack bit back tears. She didn’t want to die. She didn’t want to walk up the stairs to the execution platform and feel a rope around her neck. She didn’t want her brother to find out that his sister was dead from a newspaper.

She hoped Annie wouldn’t go. She didn’t want any of the minks to show up, but she hoped especially that Annie wouldn’t be there. She wanted their last memory together to be happy, the two of them spending another night joking and laughing together. 

She’d had plans, once. She’d earn enough money with her veterinary business, and then close up shop. Hop a ship, visit some islands she’d never seen before. Maybe go back to the Grand Line and study the fauna there, the fantastic creatures that existed nowhere else in the world. 

_I never even got a bounty for this shit_ , Jack thought morosely, leaning her head back against the wall and closing her eyes. There was so much she hadn’t done. She’d thought she would have time. 

The hours passed slowly, her emotions bouncing between anger, depression and resignment. There was no acceptance. She was dying for something she had believed in, but it wasn’t her time.

It could not be her time. 

When Kainnar returned the next day, in the late hours of the morning, she’d fallen into an uneasy sleep. Her dreams were plagued with stars and blood, and the rough awakening from being bodily lifted by one arm was almost welcome.

“Let’s go, Wayfair.” Kainnar spit, “Time to swing.”

With that, Jack was led up the stairs, through the halls of the jail, and outside. Squinting against the bright light of day, she saw the platform. A small crowd had gathered in front of it, mostly patrollers, some townspeople. A few minks scattered in the very back, but none of them looked too familiar. She was glad for that.

_I’m not going to cry_ , thought Jack, jutting her chin forward. If this was it, she would walk to her death with the same disdain she walked through her life. 

Each step up to the platform felt like climbing a mountain, her limbs becoming heavier against her will. Kainnar shoved her up the last one, into the waiting hands of whatever patroller had pulled the executioner card. It was different each of the few times something like this occurred, and each executioner wore a mask to conceal their identity.

She hoped it was Borel. She’d witnessed him blow chunks after seeing a broken arm, and if he fainted at the sound of her neck breaking, she would get a laugh beyond the grave.

She stood tall underneath the arm of the platform. She could feel the loop of the rope brushing the back of her head, and it almost broke her. Looking out, she tried to smile. The few minks there, she recognized. Not all by name, but by the kindness they had shown her. They’d welcomed her, come to her in their times of need. 

The noose was lowered around her throat, and she hoped they would remember her.

As she scanned the people, a familiar hat stood out against the crowd. It took her a moment to recognize it, because someone was on the person’s shoulders, but it finally clicked.

It was her dad’s hat.

The one she’d given to the Heart Pirate’s navigator.

And on his shoulders, concealed by another hat and long jacket, was Annie. 

The shock Jack felt almost knocked her off of her feet, and if it hadn’t been for the hand tightly gripping her upper arm and the rope around her neck, she’d have jumped into the crowd towards them. What was she doing here? And what was the polar bear still doing on the island? Their captain had said they’d be leaving that morning at the latest, and it was nearly noon.

Her eyes darted around, looking for a sign, a clue, any reason why they would be in the crowd, when a shout from the rooftops above caught everyone’s attention.

For a moment, Jack wasn’t sure what she was seeing. She’d looked at that outfit dozens of times in the mirror, worn it dozens more. The cat mask glinted slightly in the sun as the wearer pointed towards the platform.

“You’ve punished the mink and their supporters for the last time, Calamon! This is the last straw. I’ll be taking your head, governor, in exchange for the people you’ve hurt.”

It sounded like a person purposefully growling their voice, obscuring it. She felt like she could recognize it, but her mind was moving too quickly to process any of what was going on around her. Dimly, she heard Governor Dern order men to fire on the Ripper, and the sound of screams and gunshots filled the air. Suddenly, the person in her mask was on another rooftop, still shouting obscenities at the patrollers. 

Out of the corner of her eye, Jack saw the polar bear ( _Bepo_ , she remembered) setting Annie on the ground before running towards some of the patrollers. Watching him karate kick one in the head was a contender for the strangest part of her day, right after being impersonated. At the other end of the crowd, she saw the redhead ( _Shachi?_ ) attacking more people, knocking them to the ground or chasing them out into the streets away from the platform. Soon it was vacant of civilians, and the patrollers were falling at a steady rate to the surprising skill of the Heart Pirates.

Behind her, she heard Dern order patrollers to continue firing. The hand around her arm had disappeared as the executioner ran off to join the fight, and Jack used the opportunity to start trying to shimmy the noose back up and over her head. 

She’d gotten it just past her chin when something slammed into the side of her head, knocking her off balance and bringing the rope back around her neck as she kept herself upright. She saw stars for several seconds, the fight before her blurring into a sea of moving color. 

“You’re not getting off that easy, Wayfair.” Kainnar’s gross breath wafted against the back of her head as he gripped her arm painfully. She felt the noose tighten almost too much around her throat, and suddenly she was standing on her toes to keep her airway open enough for breath. The rope scratched against the skin of Jack’s neck as her lungs began to burn with the effort of pulling in oxygen.

Kainnar leaned forward, his hair falling in front of his eyes as he bent down to her height. “I don’t know how you pulled it off, but that’s not the Ripper. After I make sure you’re done, I’m going up there and tearing that mask off myself, head included. Finally be rid of your damn everything.”

Jack choked, spitting words out of her mouth that might very well be her last. “I hope you fall off the platform and meet me in hell, you son of a bitch.” 

The wasted oxygen was worth it as Kainnar roared, lunging the lever that controlled the trapdoor. With some of the last of her strength, Jack pushed one leg out and tripped him, enjoying the sight of his face hitting the hard wood of the platform with a satisfying thud.

As he cursed and moaned, she glanced out at the crowd. Then past them, past her imposter, past the buildings and streets, until she could see the ocean. It glinted in the noonday sun, calling her like it had the first time she left home. 

Its blue waves seemed to fill the air itself, surrounding her in their glow. 

_Wait…_

_What?_ Jack thought as the trapdoor below her swung open before she could complete it. She felt herself fall, the rope tugging painfully around her neck, before it suddenly stopped. Her body kept going, though, as it fell down into the darkness below. Dimly, as her head hit the surface of the platform and knocked her brain sideways, she saw a white hat float above the crowd, black spotting the surface. Then, Jack saw nothing at all.

* * *

Things weren’t going exactly to plan.

When they’d discussed it back on the Polar Tang, Law had hoped that the Governor, Dern, according to Annie, would run for cover, taking a chunk of his force with him for protection. The less people they had to deal with, the faster they could get Jack off the platform, and the rest of them to the sub. 

Unfortunately, the Governor was made of harder stuff than Law had anticipated, giving his men orders from the partial cover of the execution platform. Despite the lack of a marine presence on the island, the patrollers weren’t a bad militia, firing in tandem and keeping the Heart Pirates moving.

Law had shifted Penguin, dressed as the Ripper, from one building to another with his Room, silently prompting him to keep up his yelling and taunting as Bepo and Shachi fought below. The more divided he could keep the attention of their enemy, the better.

He hadn’t been paying attention to Annie until he heard her cry out, glancing down to see her pointing towards the stage. When he’d last looked, Jack had been wriggling her way out from the noose. Now, she was on her toes, one of the patrollers tightening the rope with a sadistic grin that gave Law’s a run for its money.

He saw Jack say something to him as he turned towards the lever, and as Law moved down the building, saw her trip him in a final act of justice. Smirking, he gave a signal to Penguin, who began making his own way down to join the fight. He passed Bepo as fast as he could, barking out that they were to start moving towards the ship. Then, as he got close enough to the platform, Law reached a hand out, willing his Room to surround him, to grow, to extend to Jack. 

As the patroller tugged the lever down, he saw the trapdoor fall. There was peace in Jack’s eyes as he drew Kikoku, aimed, and slashed it across her throat. 

Her head hit the platform harder than he wanted, and he hoped she wouldn’t give him too much shit for decapitating her a third time.

The patroller on the platform stared at Jack’s head, disbelief coloring his features. He turned to Law as his Room dissipated, roaring incoherently as he lunged to the edge. 

When kikoku pierced through his chest, the disbelief turned to anger, then surprise, and then nothing at all.

Flicking blood from the blade, Law made his way around and behind the platform, ducking under an opening in the back. Luckily, the only body below was Jack’s. 

Standing up through the trapdoor, Law reached out for her head, pulling it down with him and pressing it against her neck. He felt the skin mesh back together, and flipped Jack over onto her back. 

“Come on, Ms. Vet,” he muttered. “Now is not the time to sleep.”

* * *

Jack came to slowly, eyes adjusting to the dark as her hands tried to reach up to her head. “Ow.”

“No time for the self-pity party,” Law said, glancing up as patrollers began checking under the platform. “It’s time to go.”

Jack leaned up and glanced about, taking in her surroundings and trying to put together what had happened over the last few minutes. Law was crouching over her, their faces close together under the low ceiling of the platform. She could see the gold of his eyes as he checked her over, something that could have been mistaken for concern weighing down his brow.

“You guys came back.”

Law didn’t respond to that, working on getting her to sit upright. Jack thought for a moment.

“Did you…” 

She glared up at him. “Did you cut my head off _again_?!”

“Maybe.”

“You did! Bastard!” Jack looked down at herself. “Whose blood is this?”

“That patroller up top who pulled the lever. He didn’t appreciate my party trick, so I showed him a new one.”

“Kainnar? You killed him?”

“Was he a friend of yours?”

Jack barked out a short laugh. “No, I just wish I could have seen the look on his face. Guess I’m not meeting him in hell like I thought.”

“Don’t say that yet. Time’s up.” And with that, Law scooped Jack up, gripping kikoku in the hand under her back. He sprinted out the opening, past several patrollers who were running the opposite direction. As he turned to run to the front of the platform, a rifle met them, with Governor Dern standing ready behind it. 

“You pirates,” He snarled, leveling the barrel at Law’s head, “Have caused enough trouble on my island. I’m going to end you, Jack, and this little crew you’ve roped into your misdeeds.” 

Jack jumped down out of Law’s arms, surreptitiously reaching for one of the sickles she saw dangling at his belt. At the same time, Law held kikoku out before the both of them, ready to deflect an incoming bullet. His Room was just about spent, after two bubbles the size of buildings.

Jack stared Dern down. He was the reason this whole mess had started in the first place. The people had their prejudice, but it was his laws that had forced her hand. A bullet whizzed past her head, between her and Law. The pirate was still grinning, for some reason, and she thought that maybe he was reading her mind. She didn’t appreciate it, and made a note to kick out his too-tall legs from under him if she ever got the chance.

“You might be the Governor, Dern,” Jack said, covering the sound of her slicing through the chains on her manacles, “but this is not your island.” 

With that, Jack flung her sickle out, watching it curve through the air as it buried itself in Dern’s back. He let out a dull, choked moan, before falling forward to the ground.

Jack stood for a moment, watching blood pool out from under the body. The consequences of the last day began to sink in, as she watched the near-empty streets for incoming trouble.

She couldn’t stay on the island anymore.

It hit her as hard as the rest of her day had. Even if they didn’t think she was the Ripper, even if they forgave her for taking mink patients…. She’d just killed the governor. He was a jerk, and a bastard, but there was no excuse that could forgive what she’d done. The fact that a bunch of pirates aided in the assault merely sealed the deal.

Dimly, she and Law heard a sound coming from the dead man. Jack walked over and dug a hand through his jacket, taking her sickle back at the same time. 

After a moment, she pulled out the source of the noise.

_Purupurupuru - purupurupuru_

The transponder snail she pulled out was ringing, but judging by the Marine logo emblazoned on the side, it wasn’t one she wanted to answer, despite its insistence.

“Umm, Law?”

The Heart Pirate’s captain was already moving, tossing something towards the platform as he ran past her towards the street and his crew. Jack followed behind, tugging the hood of her sweatshirt up to cover her head as a small explosion rocked behind her. 

When she glanced back, the execution stage was ablaze.

“What now?!”

“We’re leaving.” As the two of them ran, Bepo and Shachi fell in behind them, taking down a few straggling patrollers. Penguin, who had removed Jack’s mask and donned his signature hat, jumped down to join them, passing off the skull to its rightful owner. 

Putting it back over her head was like a breath of fresh air.

As they ran through the streets of Calamon, minks appeared out of alleys and doorways. They didn’t say anything, but as Jack went by, they put their hands, paws over their hearts.

They said goodbye in the only way they could.

At the docks, Jack recognized the final mink standing by the gangplank to the Polar Tang. As they stopped short before her, Annie ran to Jack, jumping up to swing her arms around the woman’s neck. 

“I don’t want you to go!”

Her voice was muffled against Jack’s sweatshirt, but she heard it anyway. After hours and hours of holding tears back, they finally dripped down Jack’s cheeks, dotting the top of the hat Annie wore. She wrapped her own arms around the kid, squeezing her tight before setting her back down.

Jack kneeled down, conscious of the pirates behind her. “I know. I’m sorry. It’s up to you all now, to make Calamon better.” She reached out to wipe away tears from Annie’s face. “You’re smart enough for it, I think. Though maybe go about it in a different way than me.”

Annie smiled at that. “You’re gonna be a great pirate.”

“Pirate?”

“Jeeze,” Law said from behind her, holding on to the railing partway to the sub. “For a vet, you’re taking the longest to figure this out. Maybe you hit your head one too many times today.”

Jack turned, looking at the man like he’d grown another head. “I’m staying with you?”

Law just rolled his eyes. “We didn’t burn things down for nothing. Come on, before the Marines get any closer.” With that, he moved up to the deck of the submarine. 

At the end of the bay, a Marine ship was indeed headed towards them, and Jack could hear yelling behind her. She looked down at Annie, tears still clinging to both of their faces. Then she smiled, and turned to run up the gangplank, calling behind her, “Get back to Alannah, you little devil! She’ll be worried sick!”

With that, Jack followed the captain ( _her captain_ , she grinned) into the submarine, just as it cast off and began to sink beneath the waves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... I didn't mean for this to take a year. I don't have any excuses other than CrIPpliNg DePResSiOn, so, you know.   
> Sorry.  
> Anyways, I've reached a goal at least. Jack has joined up with the Heart Pirates.   
> I have more ideas, random scenes and scenarios that appear (or don't) throughout the saga that is One Piece. My problem is usually stringing them together. I wanted to get this out though, for anyone who was waiting.  
> No promises when the next update will be, but my motivation is higher now.
> 
> M
> 
> P.S.  
> Someone sent me fanart? Which I didn't know existed? So thank you anonymous person? I'll try to link it on here somehow, but that was cool. Definitely helped with the motivation at least.


	6. Goodbye, Calamon! The Heart Pirates on their Way!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's all Oda's except my characters and mistakes.

Jack watched as Calamon disappeared behind them as they sunk lower into the sea. The submarine shuddered around her, and she could feel the pulse of an engine beneath her hands as she pressed them on either side of the porthole. Every so often a fish would dart in front of the glass, riding the wake of the Polar Tang as it moved through the water like a huge, metal sea creature. Absently, Jack’s mind provided their names, scientific and common. She’d seen them all, many times before. She wouldn’t call them boring, nothing was boring, but they were normal.

She hoped that this mad adventure she was starting would be anything but.

Jack turned to continue her exploration of the ship, nearly running into Penguin as he raced past her down the hall.

Before he rounded the corner, he called back to her. “Head down the hall to the left! The med bay is over there, Cap will want to get records!”

With that, he was gone. Jack stared after him for a moment, before making her way down the hall, following the vague directions. The sub rocked as she moved, lurching every so often with the current around it. It was similar, and yet totally different from walking on the deck of a ship.

Eventually, she found a door that led into the med bay. Jack was impressed with the setup, everything built to be sturdy against the rocking of the submarine. There was a spacious examination table, shelves of specimens, and cabinets full of medical tools, supplies and equipment. There were a few mobile stands latched to the walls, and another set of swinging doors that, once opened, led into an operating theatre. 

Jack was hanging through that doorway, taking in the room, when the door to the med bay swung open. Turning, she saw Law enter, setting his nodachi to the side as he walked towards a set of cabinets.

“Um,” Jack started, “reporting for duty?”

“Not yet,” Law said as he pulled on a glove and grabbed a clipboard, pen hanging off of the top.”First you get a medical folder. And, since I need things to put into said folder, you get a physical. Shirt off.”

“Think I’m supposed to get dinner first,” Jack muttered, before pulling her sweatshirt over her head. Beneath, she just had a light tank top and bra, which is not why Law stared for a non-professional amount of time.

 _No tattoos on her hands_ , Law thought wryly. Apparently everywhere else was fair game though.

One arm had intricate lettering spiraling down past her elbow, while the other had a stylized tsunami, waves and clouds crashing. They partially covered a multitude of long, thin scars along her forearms. There were stars along her collarbone, trailing like a pattern of freckles. 

Law had counted eleven before he discovered that she was glaring.

“Thought you didn’t like tattoos.”

“I never said I didn’t like them, just that yours were bad. Pretty sure doctors need to be able to spell, right?”

“Turn around and breath in.”

All things considered, it was a normal physical. Weight (“Rude.” “Don’t care.”), height (“5’ 10””), smoker or drinker (“hell no, and casually.”), medical history (“broke my leg once choosing a bad place to cliff jump.”), the works. The actual physical was similarly familiar. He checked her breathing, blood pressure, blood type, and reflexes. As she had guessed (and Law had expected), Jack had a mild concussion. _A side effect of getting hit over the head so many times in one day_ , she thought, rubbing her temple.

Jack hadn’t been sure at the beginning, both on the island and ten minutes before, but she saw it now - he was a doctor, despite the reputation Law had gained in the North Blue. 

_He even has the handwriting for it_ , Jack decided as she glanced over his notes on the clipped paper. Chicken scratch and runny cursive mixed to form an almost completely different language.

“How’d you get such a decked out sub? I knew doctors back in the Grand Line who would have killed for this.”

“Helps when you design it yourself. Shachi, Penguin, Bepo and I put together the blueprints when we decided to set sail. Possible to crew with a minimum of two people, but a much higher capacity. Not that we’re actively recruiting.”

“Uh-huh, you just decided you needed a vet on board.”

Law looked her over. “If you’re complaining, you could swim back to Calamon.” As he moved to another door on the far side of the med bay, he continued, “Besides, you’re not the worst fighter we’ve met. Who knows what we’ll run into on the Grand Line. I need a crew to get across that sea.”

Jack followed him into what turned out to be an office, filled with books and paper and a desk that was so cluttered it would be more practical to work on the floor. Jars of specimens and preserved organs littered several shelves, reflecting the low light of a lamp. 

“Why are you going to the Grand Line?”

Jack had heard the stories of Gol D. Roger. Spit from the mouths of marines, whispered between dreaming children, shouted from bar tables. The great treasure he’d left somewhere at the end of the Grand Line, and the greater legacy that had started the great pirate era the world now found itself in. The King of the Pirates, he’d been called. The man who had sailed the sea like it was both home and a far away dream. Men long after set out to attain even a fraction of what Roger had been, and no one had done it yet. Sure, there were the four Emperors of the Sea, the Warlords, even the Revolutionaries, but no one had lived up to the name so far.

Still, when Law answered her, Jack thought that maybe someone might yet.

“I want to see the greatest ocean in the world. And when I get there, I want to beat it.”

Jack grinned. “With just five of us? Better get started then.”

He’d never admit it, but Jack was certain he’d smiled at her. 

* * *

Shortly after her check-up, Law was called down to navigation by Bepo to check their course for the next island. Jack trailed along behind, unsure what to do next, before an arm was slung over her shoulders, steering her off to the side.

“Shachi?”

He grinned, red hair puffed out under his hat. “Figured you’d be done by now! Want a tour before you get lost in this place?”

“Aren’t you supposed to be…. I don’t know, helping run the ship I guess?”

“Bepo navigates, and Captain is going down there with him, so they’re fine. Peng and I split duties in engineering, so he’s down there now keeping an eye on life support and the new engine part. Tour or no?”

Jack couldn’t argue with that. She followed along behind the redhead as he led her around the current deck, naming off the different parts of the med bay, the storage room near the back of the sub, and finally the library tucked into the front corner, filled with even more books than Law’s office.

Next, Shachi led her down the stairwell to the next deck lower, which seemed to be crew facilities. There was a men’s bunk room with three used cots, a washroom, and a shower room next door. There were washing machines and dryers in a closet off to the side, and a mess hall big enough for a full crew. Further to the back was a training area, practice dummies and weapons along one wall. Finally, down even farther, was the Captain’s quarters, marked by a door with their jolly roger in the center.

As Shachi led her down the stairs to the bottom of the submarine, Jack asked a few questions about their travels. 

They were all North Blue natives, and had met Law on Swallow island where he’d shown up and kicked their asses for bullying Bepo. Shachi and Penguin were childhood friends, having grown up there. Together, the four of them had started the Heart Pirates, designing the Polar Tang and slowly working for (and stealing, when the opportunity arose) enough beli to pay for the sub’s construction. They’d been sailing ever since, hopping from island to island in the North Blue for the last two years. 

The notoriety they’d gained in that time was, Shachi explained, partially exaggerated, due to the Marine’s tendency to blow things out of proportion. Still though, they had accomplished a lot.

“So Bepo navigates, Law is the captain as well as the sub’s doctor, and you two are the engineers?”

Shachi nodded. “Penguin works mostly with the engine and life support systems. I run all of the electricity and plumbing. We switch off or give a hand to the other if it’s necessary, but it works out. He can hear an alarm from a mile away, and I think the smell of a gas leak could wake me out of a coma.”

The self-restraint it took for Jack to keep her mouth shut about his nose was legendary, but she figured there would be plenty of opportunity for that sort of thing when she knew them all better. They were a crew after all, and Jack figured they’d be spending a lot of time together.

“Are we really headed to the Grand Line with just five people? Seems like a small crew, personally.”

“The next island we’re heading to has a few semi-well known shipbuilder’s docks. They mainly do fishing vessels and some Marine ships, but I think Law was hoping to find a few more crew members there.”

“Hmm, makes sense. Who does all the cooking around here? The only time I’ve experienced guys cooking is my dad’s constant spaghetti and my brother’s burnt stovetop offerings.”

Shachi laughed. “We take turns. It’s pretty easy with just us, so everyone makes a few different things every so often.” He made a face. “Except Law. If you want burnt offerings, Captain’s your man. He gets banned from the kitchen unless supervised.”

“Somehow that doesn’t surprise me.”

“What doesn’t surprise you?”

Jack looked up, realizing that they had entered the navigation deck. There were a multitude of radars and sensors, probably linked to different aspects of the engine or the outside of the submarine to monitor fuel, depth, and pressure. A large table at the center of the room held a map, the North Blue and what seemed to be the edge of the calm belt. There were navigation tools littered on top of it; a compass, a line ruler, even a star map tucked to the side.

Bepo was at the far side of the room, staring ahead through a large window that showed the expanse of water before them. He was also making small adjustments to a classic ship’s wheel, mounted to a console with a few more sensors and a transponder snail.

She processed his question for a few seconds, trying to remember what they had been discussing, before going with the teasing option over the safe one. “It doesn’t surprise me that your Captain has bad taste in food as well as tattoos.”

Shachi burst out laughing, while Bepo looked away. Jack thought she was safe until a voice came from behind her. 

“Your captain, too, miss Jack. Thank you for volunteering for kitchen duty this week.”

Jack turned and came nose to chest with Law, who had either been hiding in the corner when they had come in, or followed shortly after them through the door. This was probably not the best time to make good on her unvoiced threat to knock his legs out from under him, so she grinned up at Law instead. “Happy to be of service, Captain. I’ll take that task, as long as I get a desk in your med bay. And a bed somewhere. Deal?”

With that, she took a step back and crossed her arms. Law looked at her for several moments, his face changing from annoyance to a nearly-concealed smirk that Jack was starting to enjoy. Behind her, Shachi was doing a terrible job of holding in laughter, and Bepo was ignoring the lot of them.

“Hm. Fine, we’ll pick some things up at the next island. You’re familiar with medical bays, so I’m comfortable having you work up there. As for a bed, there’s a smaller room across from the men’s bunk you can take over. It has a bathroom, although you’ll have to share the showers with everyone else. Which means that you two,” Law directed this at Shachi, “will need to behave.”

“Why not Bepo?!”

“Bepo is polite and semi-self cleaning. Clear out and help Penguin in the engine room, I want to bump up our speed and reach the next island ahead of schedule. Jack, feel free to raid the pantry for whatever you need, we’ll pick up more supplies later.”

Jack thought for a moment. “How’s everyone with soup? Should be easy to throw together, I can even toast up some bread if we want.”

Law blanched and turned back to her. “No bread. Soup is fine.” With that, he walked out, headed to the stairs leading up to the crew’s deck.

Jack turned to Bepo and Shachi. “....bread?”

“Yeah, we don’t ask anymore. Soup sounds good to me, we’re going deeper and faster, so less power is going to head to the heating systems.”

“Heh, nice.”

Shachi glared. “Hey, that’s our job!”

“Learn to share. Could you show me where this extra room I get is? I want to put my stuff down and shower before I head to the kitchen. Spending the night in a cell was not good on my hair.”

Shachi led her up to the crew quarters and a door before heading back down into the engines, calling up that the soup better be spicy. Jack breathed a brief sigh of relief. After living alone for so long, it would take a little time to get used to the Polar Tang’s communal living.

The room she found on the other side of the door was small, but cozy. There was a bed up against the corner, and a bookshelf against one wall. The other wall was taken up by a door, which turned out to be a small bathroom, and a closet. 

Jack set her backpack down on the cot. Truthfully, she didn’t have a lot. Her leather jacket and mask, her sickles, a few scalpels, and the clothes she’d been wearing before getting thrown in jail. 

_At least I was wearing my good boots_ , she thought, kicking the steel toes on the edge of the bed. Grabbing her jacket, Jack walked to the washroom and found a small stack of towels to borrow from. She didn’t have any soap, but rinsing the blood and dirt and grime from her body and hair was cathartic, and by the time she got out, her skin was rubbed raw. Throwing on the towel, Jack quickly rinsed her tank top and underthings, throwing them in the drier long enough to avoid any chafing. 

The sub had indeed cooled down as the day wore on, and Jack swung her jacket around her bare shoulders, throwing her sweatshirt in the wash. Her tank top and jeans would do for now, but she’d have to get new winter weather clothing soon.

And more clothing in general. And everything else.

The sub was quiet as Jack wandered to the mess hall, pushing open some swinging doors to find a fairly nice kitchen. She grabbed out a large pot and some spices before going to search the pantry, which was connected by yet another door next to the fridge. 

“No bread…. What kind of weirdo doesn’t like bread? It’s a basic food staple,” Jack muttered as she cut potatoes and peppers and onion, dropping them into the broth as some sausage sizzled in a pan to the side. The stove and cooking food was keeping her nice and warm, so she was almost disappointed when the food was done and the heat began to dissipate again. 

Jack was just finishing pulling out a few slices of thick bread when the doors behind her swung open. Turning, she watched Law wander in, without his sword and having changed into a different sweatshirt, this one a dark blue. It still had the jolly roger on it, and she wondered if he made them himself.

“....well?”

Jack realized that she’d been asked a question. “Sorry, I wasn’t listening. Didn’t sleep well last night, although the shower helped. What did you ask?”

He sighed. “Is that done? We’ve hit a steady pace, although Bepo will have to stay in navigation to avoid any obstacles, so we’re eating in there.”

Blinking, Jack looked up at him again. “That’s nice of you. Um, yeah, it’s done, I was just grabbing some bread - not for you - and then tossing the lid on. If you can manage three bowls, I think we can make it down there in one piece.”

Law turned to a cabinet and pulled out a pair of trays, suggesting that this wasn’t the first time they had done a meal out of the mess hall. Jack loaded up the bowls, grabbed spoons and napkins, and went to grab a tray before it was swept away from her.

“You get the bread one, I’ll take this.”

“If I shove your head into the soup pot, would the salt in the broth be enough for your devil fruit to kick in and drown you?”

“Burns would set in far before drowning, and you’d have to reach my head first.”

If Jack hadn’t just spent the last hour making it, she would have sent him to the floor, soup and all. “You’re not even that much taller than me, asshole,” she grouched, grabbing the other tray and following Law out of the mess hall and down the stairs. 

* * *

The food had turned out well, and as Jack sat around the cleared map table watching Shachi and Penguin fight over the last piece of bread, she was content. Bepo had wandered back to the wheel, keeping an eye on the water ahead of them with the sub’s lights. Law, who was beginning to look like he’d slept worse than Jack, was leaning back on his chair, twirling a pencil in his fingers.

“Hey Bepo, How’d you become a navigator? Seems like a hard thing to learn, especially on a ship like this,” Jack asked, leaning her head back to look at the bear upside down.

“I learned after I left Zou. The ship that picked me up brought me to the North Blue, but I wanted to be able to find my way back some day, so I decided to study navigation techniques.”

“I’ve always wanted to visit Zou…. I’ve heard it’s beautiful. Is it true it sits on top of an enormous elephant?”

“Yup, and that’s what makes it so hard to find. You have to be an expert to get anywhere near it.”

Jack smiled. ”Well if anyone can do that, I think it’s you, Bepo. As long as the damn knuckleheads don’t slow you down.” 

Penguin kicked her shin, nearly knocking her chair off balance. “Says you! Maybe I’m not making you a boiler suit after all!”

“I was wondering about that,” Jack looked to Law, “Is that their idea or yours? I’ve noticed your very un-fucking-subtle expression of piracy, but are the boiler suits really necessary?”

“They’re a sign of camaraderie!” Shachi cried, sitting up from where his head had been on the table. 

“Law doesn’t wear one.”

“He… he’s the captain!”

“If I wear it, do I have to keep it zipped up? Think it’ll clash with the jacket.”

“You-” Shachi stopped. “You want one?”

Jack shrugged. “I mean, if you’re offering. I don’t really have any clothes right now, besides what i already had on. I’ll try and fix that on the next island, but if you’re that serious about it...”

Shachi and Penguin looked like they were about to tear up, and Jack wondered if she had made a mistake. Law was certainly not being helpful, having pulled his hat over his eyes to feign sleep.

She knew he was faking it because that damn grin was still on his face.

“....can it at least be black?”

* * *

A few hours later, Jack found herself quietly making her way from the mess hall to her bunk. She’d finished cleaning up in the kitchen after bringing another bowl of soup to Bepo, and was looking forward to getting some real sleep. The slow rock of the Polar Tang around her was already lulling Jack to dreamland, so when a door at the far end of the hall opened, the light startled her.

Before she could register what was happening, a ball of fabric hit Jack in the chest, and she scrambled to keep it from falling to the floor.

“Um…. what the fuck?”

Law stared back at her, though she had to squint against the light coming from in his quarters. “You said you didn’t have any clothes. These should at least get you to the next island, or whenever Penguin gets around to making you a suit.”

“...yours?”

Despite the light, she saw him roll his eyes. Just because he could survive off of no sleep didn’t mean she could, and she was tempted to chuck the ball back at him. Still, he understood the woefully incomplete question that had slipped out of her mouth.

“Yeah, they’re mine. You can keep them, I’ve got enough. Anything to keep you from making the sub smell like a dump.”

If Jack had been more awake, she’d have come up with a better comeback, but as it was, flipping Law off as she opened her door would have to do. Before she went in, however, she turned. 

“Hey!”

Law stopped, his hand on his own door about to close it.

“Thank you. For… you know. All of this.”

Jack shuffled her feet a bit, before continuing. “I didn’t get a chance to say it back on Calamon, but you saved my ass. You didn’t have to, and no one would have blamed you because that’s how people think pirates are. I’ll try and make it up to you guys.”

He had the audacity to look annoyed, but replied, “You don’t have to make up for it. You’re a part of my crew now, so you get the same treatment as everyone else. We’re headed for the Grand Line, and that’s not going to be an easy place to survive.”

Jack gave a half-hearted salute. “Aye-aye, captain.”

He flipped her off as the door closed behind him, and Jack grinned to herself. 

The clothes Law had given her were too long, but they were warm, which was really all that mattered to Jack. After slipping out of her tank top and jeans, she pulled on one of the shirts, tugging the hem of it as it brushed the top of her thighs. It smelled like ink and iron and antiseptic, which reminded Jack of her own house.

Slipping into bed, she wondered what would happen to the place. Maybe Annie would go back and grab a few of the more important books before any looters got to it, and maybe the medical equipment would make its way to a good owner. No matter what, it was out of her hands, if not her thoughts.

Jack turned over, clutching the pillow beneath her head. Hopefully the news would go easy on her, since the Ripper ended up being the star of the show. At least no one had made that connection between them.

As the dipping submarine rocked her to sleep, Jack dreamt of Calamon, the waves crashing along its shoreline. A shoreline she would never see again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mostly just talking and exposition, but that has to exist. Finally getting to know the Heart Pirates a bit.  
> Thanks for the kudos and comments, they make me smile.
> 
> -M


	7. A New Heart Pirate! Sailing towards that Great Sea!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everything is Oda's, except for the mistakes and OCs.

Despite sleeping like moss growing on a boulder, Jack’s eyes fought her attempts to open them against the light streaming in from a porthole. Blearily, she sat up, blinking away the dregs of sleep, and peered out through the glass. They had surfaced at some point in the night, although no land was in sight from her angle.

She swung her feet off the edge of the bed, stepping into the bathroom to take care of her very full bladder before glancing in the mirror. There was a delightfully purple bruise blossoming on her temple above her right eye, as well as on her arm, and there were definite rope burns around her neck from the noose. Jack fingered them gently, remembering just how close she had come to dying on that platform. 

Shaking those thoughts from her head, she grabbed the towel from the day before and pulled on a pair of sweatpants from the pile Law had thrown at her. They were too long, but they sat on her hips after tying them tightly around her waist. She decided to wash the rest of her clothes properly today, if for no other reason than to feel less grimy.

Meandering out of her room towards the laundry area, Jack nearly ran face first into Penguin, who was coming up from the engines. He got halfway through an apology before he saw her outfit, looked at her, and then did a second double take at the shirt.

The still-too-early morning was not doing wonders for her brain functions, so it took a few extra seconds to process the implications.

“Ew. No. Fuck no.”

Penguin held his hands up. “I didn’t say anything!”

“You implied it. I needed clothes that hadn’t been sitting in a cell overnight, leave me alone.”

The man shrugged. “Whatever you say. Bepo whipped up some breakfast, it’s still in the mess hall if you want anything.”

Jack’s face fell. “Shit, that’s supposed to be my job this week.”

“It’s no big deal. No one is expected to do three meals every day, and Bepo’s awake before anyone but Captain, so he usually takes care of it. Besides, you had a long couple of days.”

Jack still felt bad, so after rushing to throw her clothes in the washing machine, she went to the mess hall. Bepo was at a table finishing off his meal, and Law was next to him.

And also on him. 

Jack stifled a giggle, pacing around to see that the infamous Surgeon of Death was sound asleep, a half-full cup of coffee in front of him, and his head buried in the polar bear’s shoulder. His hat covered his eyes, but the steady breathing that gently lifted Law’s chest every few seconds was a dead giveaway.

It was like seeing a baby goat walk for the first time. Beautiful and seemingly rare, and you wanted to admire it silently, but you also wanted to point and laugh and take a picture for posterity because it was so goddamn funny to watch.

Bepo looked over at her then and pointed towards the serving hatch, where some bacon and eggs were still cooling. Jack’s stomach overrode the comedy of the situation, and she plated herself some breakfast and some coffee before joining Bepo on the other side of the table.

“Is this a normal morning occurrence?”

The bear matched her whispered tone. “He didn’t sleep much the night before, and using his devil fruit yesterday made him even more tired. Did you sleep well?”

They had a pleasant morning meal together, whispering across the table so as not to wake up their sleeping captain. Jack felt bad that he had apparently lost sleep over her predicament, although the fact that he had surprised her even more in the first place. She glanced at him, for once seeing his face without annoyance or that stupid smirk. It made him look younger.

“You’re going to set up in the med bay?”

Jack shrugged. “Yeah, it’s what I’m used to. There’s some nice equipment in there, and while it isn’t my specialty, I have experience patching up people as well as animals. I’d like to get a few notebooks or journals and catalogue the different species I’ve encountered or will encounter. Since we’re headed to the Grand Line, there’ll be no shortage of interesting ones, and they could be medicinally useful.”

Bepo thought for a moment, a paw pushing his plate away as he looked over. “I have some extra notebooks down in navigation you could use.”

Jack smiled. “I appreciate it, but I can pick some up at the next island. I have a little money that was stashed away in my backpack for emergencies, and some types of notebooks aren’t very conducive to writing left-handed. Thank you for offering though.”

“Sorry….”

“Why?!”

“You two,” Law muttered as he lifted his hat off of his eyes, “are too loud for this early in the morning.”

“It’s… 10:00am?”

“Exactly.”

Jack held in a snort, reaching over towards the coffee pot that she had pulled out of the kitchen. She warmed up his mug before filling her own to the brim, steam rising towards the ceiling from the warm drink.

“Bepo?”

“No thank you. I’m heading down to navigation to check our course.”

“When are we going to reach the next island?” Jack vaguely knew where they were going, as shipping vessels came to Calamon from Destry, the island they were headed to, but she didn’t know how far the trip was.

“Sometime early tomorrow. We’ve made good time, and the breeze today will help push us farther along above the water than what the engines could do below, so we can take advantage of the free boost.”

“Ah… sweet. Well, I can clean up the kitchen for you, Sorry for not coming down to help this morning.”

Bepo answered her with a wave as he left the mess hall. 

Jack sipped at her coffee, enjoying the warm feeling of it in her stomach. It was a chilly morning, despite the sunlight. Across from her Law did the same, but at a quicker pace, trying to absorb the caffeine directly into his system. 

They didn’t speak, content to sit and drink coffee and feel the Polar Tang rock around them as it made its way across the sea. As Law put back a fourth cup of coffee, Jack stood and gathered the few dishes strewn on the table. 

Leaving the coffee pot. No sense losing a hand this early in the day. 

As she rinsed and put away the utensils from this morning’s meal, Jack made a mental list of what she would need at the next island. 

“Journals, some winter things… hmmm, shorts and some tank tops, I know there are warmer islands out there…. Socks! Need more….” 

Jack didn’t notice when Law walked in behind her, although it became pretty clear when his mug splashed into the remaining water in the sink. 

“Thanks,” She muttered, shaking water from her eyelashes, “I really needed that.”

“Hn. There’s an extra desk in the med bay you can take over. Set it up wherever. When we reach the next island, you can pick up any equipment you think you might need.”

Jack sighed. “I’ll make a list for that too…. Wish you’d raided my place, would have saved the trouble.”

Law glanced over, already starting the coffee maker up again. She was pretty sure he had a problem.

“They’d already destroyed the place. Not a lot to salvage, really, at least nothing they thought was valuable. We have the budget for a few things, since we were planning on stocking up before heading for the Grand Line anyways.”

Jack watched as the water spiraled down the drain. “Well, I can get some updated things at least…. I’ll need to go through what you already have. Mind if I take a look-see through there?”

Law waved her off, headed back out the door and towards the hallway. “Do what you like. We’ll be docking early tomorrow, and heading to the Grand Line the next morning.”

Staring after him, Jack’s heart beat a little faster. “We’re really doing this, huh,” she whispered, eyes moving to a porthole in the mess hall.

She was going home, back to the ocean she’d been born in. Something she wasn’t sure she’d ever get the chance to do.

_With a bunch of pirates, no less_ , Jack thought to herself, laughing at the image of her father’s face if he knew what she was doing. Her brother Jake would probably just laugh, not at all surprised at the shit she’d gotten herself into this time.

She hoped they wouldn’t be too disappointed. 

\---

Wandering up to the med bay, Jack started inventorying the things already there. It was well stocked for medical emergencies, treatment, as well as some research, but was mostly focused on larger and humanoid patients, with few exceptions. 

The notebook Jack had borrowed from Bepo was filling up quickly. She wanted a few different pieces of equipment for extracting and processing venoms or poisons, as well as ways to process them. A crucible was already available, but she added a mortar and pestle. There was a centrifuge off to the side with other chemistry necessities, which was a relief. They were hard to come by, and not inexpensive. 

Adding a few tanks and small terrariums to the list, Jack turned to see what kind of desk space she would have, before dropping her pencil to the ground. 

“Son of a bitch.”Jack laughed, grinning as she took in the books stacked at one corner of the workspace. 

They were hers. The Mink anatomy book, a book with her notes on natural venoms and toxins, a basic species guide, a guidebook on chemical analysis and extraction…. It wasn’t her entire library, but it was the chunk she had secretly wished for. Running her fingers over the book spines, she added a new entry to the list in her head - one more thing she had the damn Surgeon of Death to thank for.

She thumbed through her guidebook, adding a few things to the notebook before setting them on a shelf above the desk ( _my desk_ , Jack thought). She then sat back in her chair, swiveling to take in her new work space.

“Hmm, not the worst place I’ve ever worked,” Jack said aloud, rocking back in the seat as the sound bounced off of the white walls. And it wasn’t, compared to her last place of business. No one was actively gunning for her at least, which was a leg up. 

Checking the time, Jack decided it was getting close enough to lunch for her to start working on something, so she got up with a groan, stretching out her still-sore muscles and heading down to the mess hall. She’d decided on sandwiches before remembering the Captain’s weird aversion to bread, so Jack pulled out the makings for onigiri instead. 

While waiting for the rice to finish, she watched the sea roll by, the occasional fish jumping out of the waves. The sun glinted off of the water like it had the day before, and she remembered the blue sphere that Law had thrown towards her. She hadn’t met anyone with a devil fruit before, but she assumed that it was an important part of his ability to decapitate people without killing them. Of all the powers she’d heard of, it was probably the most useful one for a doctor.

“I wonder if it has any other applications,” Jack thought aloud. Being able to open up a patient without the risk of tissue damage or excessive bleeding would be extremely useful.

Behind her, the rice began to steam, and she went over to finish lunch. Pulling out the trays from the night before, Jack loaded up the necessities before heading down to navigation, assuming at least Bepo and possibly Law would be down there. 

She kicked the door frame as she entered, no hands free to knock. “I’ve got lunch! How’s it going, Bepo?”

Bepo turned and smiled at her, and off to the side Jack saw Law look up from a book.

“We’re on track to hit land at sunrise tomorrow, if this wind holds. Do I smell fish?”

“There’s some in the onigiri, yeah. Are Shachi and Penguin in the engine room?”

Bepo responded as Law wandered over, nodding in thanks as he grabbed one of the rice balls. “I can call them in, they shouldn’t be too busy with most of our momentum coming from external force.”

As he said it, the door opened again behind them, and the two men in question stumbled through. Shachi was holding a newspaper above his head, and Penguin was grinning.

“New bounties are out! Looks like someone on Calamon got a few snaps before we booked it out of there.”

Law waved them over, spreading out the papers before them as he took a bite out of the onigiri. Jack grabbed one as well, chewing as she took in the wanted posters before them.

“Hey Cap, you jumped up!”

The poster in question had a picture of Law’s signature frown, and Bepo stood in the background facing the other way. Below it, under the classic ‘Dead or Alive’, was his bounty.

Jack whistled. “40,000,000, huh? Not terrible for a pirate.”

“They still have Bepo listed as a pet! He kicked most of the ass on Calamon!”

Bepo sulked as Shachi picked up his own poster. “Me and Peng have been at the same bounty for months! Should have made more of a scene….”

Jack nudged Penguin’s out of the way, suddenly staring at the Ripper. It was an old photo, one someone must have taken on one of her nightly patrols of the Mink district. Her jacket was blown back slightly in the wind, and her hair was flying behind her head. Everything else was obscured behind her mask, which Jack was grateful for.

Below the picture, her bounty read 15,000,000 berries. The Marine’s had clearly talked to the locals, because the name just above the number simply read ‘The Ripper’. 

Jack sighed in relief, grateful that her face hadn’t been blasted across the seas. As Shachi complained about his lower bounty (“We’ve been pirates way longer, how come she gets the higher bounty?!”), she pulled the actual newspaper from the table, flipping between the pages. 

There was a short account of what happened on Calamon, although whoever ended up in charge had clearly cleaned it up for the press. Instead of mentioning the blatant discrimination against the minks on the island, the article explained her near-execution as ‘an unfortunate mis-identification in the quest for justice’. Apparently, the charges for illegal treatment of minks had been dropped or ignored in favor of blaming the Ripper and the Heart Pirates for the whole scene.

Reading further, Jack nearly dropped the paper as she hit the final paragraph.

‘ _Unfortunately, the falsely accused Jaquelyn Wayfair was murdered by notorious pirate captain Trafalgar Law, the Surgeon of Death, as well as his new subordinate the Ripper, who framed her for their terrorizing of civilians. No body was recovered after the suspects set fire to the square in their escape. Neighbors mourn the loss of the island’s veterinarian, another victim of the Pirate Era._

_Marines under the direction of the World Government continue their hunt for justice against pirates across the seas._ ’

“Shit,” she muttered, her onigiri crumbling under her clenching fist.

Law and the rest looked over at that, noticing the change in mood. Penguin leaned over and skimmed the article, face falling as he finished it as well. “Damn. Didn’t think they’d publish that, too.”

Jack whipped around. “This was a part of your fucking plan? I’m dead?”

Penguin put his hands up. “We needed an excuse for you to disappear! We figured they’d just let it go like all the other pirate incidents in the North Blue!”

“Well they didn’t!”

“I can see that!”

“Hey,” Law said forcefully, putting his hand between the two of them. “The Marines are trying to get some sympathy after all the shit they’ve pulled before. Their version of justice is so skewed that they’ll use whatever they can.” He paused. “We took a gamble on how they’d portray the fight on Calamon.”

“A gamble?!” Jack paced, her nails biting into the skin of her palm as she worried her lower lip. “My whole-ass name is on this! And I’m dead? And you -” She pointed specifically at Law, “killed me?!”

She wasn’t sure which one annoyed her more, really. In front of her, Law’s face hardened. 

“Would you rather people thought you were dead than some criminal who was being executed? Or worse, the person underneath the mask in your new bounty poster?”

Jack made the motion of strangling him with her mind before turning away, pushing her fingers through her hair. 

Despite her qualms, they were right. And it annoyed her. And in the bottom of Jack’s heart, she knew that the news would reach her parents and her brother.

And she hoped that their mourning would hurt less than their disappointment if they found out what had happened instead. 

Jack sighed through her teeth, turning back to the rest of the crew behind her and settling back into her chair. “Alright, fine. I’m not happy about it, but there wasn’t a lot of choice.”

She glared at Law. “Not sure why you get to be the one who killed me, though. I feel like I should have gotten that privilege.”

Law smirked, and Shachi and Penguin snickered beside them. “I’ll let you do it next time then.”

Jack tossed the remains of her onigiri at him, which he attempted to send away with his blue Room. Enough rice stuck to his black hair that she burst out laughing. Lunch devolved into a food fight of sorts, although there was enough that no one lost out on the meal. After Bepo had made several impressive catches with his mouth, and Shachi slipped on some extra seaweed, a fragile truce was called. Bepo and Law shooed them out to finish the day’s tasks before they submerged again, and returned to their work in navigation. 

As she carried the remains of their lunch back up to the kitchen, Jack thought again about her family. 

She hoped her mom had been the one to read the paper first. She’d always been better about bad news, and she’d probably break it to her dad gently.

Jack worried about her brother. He was alone on some engineering assignment, out in the middle of the sea. Would someone recognize her name and tell him? Would he read the words himself?

They’d been together for so long, growing up side by side in their own little corner of the Grand Line. Jack always thought that she’d know, somehow, if something had happened to him, that she would feel it. Would he believe the paper? Would he be ok?

She groaned, closing her eyes briefly against the intrusive thoughts. Worrying about them did no good, and feeling terrible about the situation wasn’t helping either. After finishing the cleanup in the kitchen, Jack gazed out the porthole.

_This is my life_ , she thought, peering out across the waves. _And I’ll live it for them, too_. Her resolve returning, Jack headed back towards the med bay. She was going to inventory everything she would need to do any research she wanted in the Grand Line, and make the little place on the sub her own.

_I’m gonna see the whole world, Jake. Just watch me_.

* * *

Miles away on a top secret Marine base, an engineer collapsed in the cafeteria. He was led to his bunk clutching a newspaper and a few posters, kicking everyone out before slouching over a cluttered desk of half-finished gadgets. Crumpled in his left hand were the faces of two pirates, and in his right a small wooden frog. 

He looked out the window of his quarters, glaring at the sea beyond as if it held the people who had brought his world crashing down around him. 

“Trafalgar Law…. and the Ripper. I swear on my sister that you’ll pay for what you’ve done.”

With that, Jacob Wayfair pinned the two posters to the board above him, and began to build.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Freaking croc tried to bite me this week, really need to stop getting bitten by things. and scratched by things.
> 
> Sort of a boring chapter, but setting up things for the future. Next stop, land.  
> Thanks for the comments and kudos.


	8. Last Stop! The Shipwrights and Shopkeeps of Destry!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everything but my OCs and mistakes are Oda's.

After a relatively relaxed evening spent making notes, exploring the rest of the sub, and reading old comic books Jack had found (There was a rather impressive collection of ‘Sora, Warrior of the Sea’ serials, which she assumed belonged to one of the boys), she put together a simple dinner and left it in the serving hatch to be picked through. They had re-submerged just before sunset when the winds had died away, and were now relying on the engines to bring them to the next island, Destry. 

Jack’s sleep was marred with strange dreams that by morning had turned to an uneasy hole in her stomach. She chalked it up to nerves about their next stop, or even the fast-approaching journey to the Grand Line. 

She was up just a little before the sun, grabbing a shower before pulling on her jeans and jacket in preparation for a cold shopping trip. Picking up her mask, she looked at it for a moment before deciding to leave it behind. They were close enough to Calamon that it might be recognizable, especially after the article in the paper. Walking through town would be easier if she looked like anyone else on the street. 

Wandering to the kitchen, Jack nearly ran into Bepo’s back. It looked like he was just starting breakfast, so she jumped in at the stove to give him a hand. For a guy with big paws and a lot of fur, he was incredibly careful around food, and a good cook to boot.

“How is it that the Captain apparently can’t cook to save his life, and you could give some restaurants I’ve been to a run for their money?”

Bepo gave a soft smile. “Captain has too much going on in his mind, I think. Cooking is nice because you can do it without worrying about anything else, but he gets distracted.” He paused. “Please don’t tell him I said that.”

Jack laughed, flipping a few more pancakes onto a plate. “He is the Captain, I guess he has reasons to have a filled up brain. Besides, from what I've seen the last few days, it looks like he has you to look out for him.”

They fell back into silence, just putting the last of the food in before Shachi and Penguin stumbled in. They both looked half-asleep as they filled plates and collapsed at a nearby table. 

Jack wandered out towards them, several mug handles strung over her fingers and a coffee pot in the other hand. “Long night, you two?”

Shachi looked up blearily, while Penguin just reached for a cup. “Doing engine maintenance and inventorying any repairs or last-minute supplies we need in Destry.”

“You didn’t do that yesterday?”

“Shut up.”

Jack shrugged, chuckling as she sat down to join them. Bepo came out of the kitchen with a plate in hand. “I'm gonna go and take the last navigation shift before we reach Destry. Should get into port within the hour.”

As the mink left, Jack looked over at Penguin, who seemed to be the more awake of the two. “So Law navigates too?”

“Needed a second person to take over when Bepo needed to sleep. We’re in pretty calm and clear seas right now, so it’s not too difficult as long as you know what direction to go.”

“Huh,” thought Jack, leaning back with half of a pancake on her fork. “Think they’d teach me?”

“Probably, if you hung out in navigation long enough. You could ask Bepo, although he’ll probably be busy figuring out how to get us through the Grand Line. According to the few sources that we’ve found, it’s not easy.”

“I was stuck in passenger areas when I left my island, so I’m not sure exactly how it works. They went through the calm belt, though, which might be a completely different game.”

“There’s a few things we’ll have to pick up to accomplish it, one of them being a compass that’s specific to the Grand Line.”

At that point, Law stumbled into the mess hall, looking a bit disheveled from the early morning. His hat was nowhere to be found for once, and his black hair stuck up in several different directions. Jack shoved over a cup of coffee as soon as he sat down, and he inhaled it like a whale taking in plankton.

Shachi and Penguin asked a few budget questions, which the captain answered with all the elegance of a sleep-deprived, grumpy man. It didn’t seem to phase them. As Jack got up to put a few things away and get things ready for Destry, Law looked over, leaning back on the back two legs of his chair. “There’s some belli for you, too. I know you wanted research equipment, and I looked over your list. Seems like there are some useful parts about being a vet.”

Jack decided it was early enough in the morning that his tired brain might forget about it, so she slid her leg under the table and kicked out Law’s chair from beneath him. Immediately, she stood up and grabbed her jacket from her own chair. “Oops! Guess that’s why they tell you not to lean back on chairs. See you guys in a bit!”

She’d cleared the door just in time to avoid the Room that slid across the mess hall, but the look on his face would be ingrained in Jack’s mind forever.

* * *

Jack slung her mostly-empty backpack over her shoulder as she gazed out at the island’s port. The Polar Tang had surfaced a few miles out, pulling in at the far end of the docks to keep a lower profile.

Jack glanced down at the bright yellow paint job of the sub. “Yeah. Low profile.” 

Law walked up behind her, staring out at the island as well. “We’ll be here for about a day and a half. Bepo’s found someone willing to sell him a log pose, and we’ll be looking for some more information before we make our way to the Grand Line.”

Jack nodded. “I should be able to find what I’m looking for by then. You said I had a budget?”

Without a word, the Captain handed over an envelope. She pocketed it, already calculating what she would need and what it might cost. Shachi and Penguin were already headed down the gangplank, looking like they were headed towards the shipbuilder’s section of port. Jack started heading to that part of the deck when behind her, Law piped up again. 

“Ah. That reminds me,” and with that, Jack found herself switched with one of the barrels on the dock below them, on her back and staring up at the sky as she refilled her lungs with a gasp. Above her, Law peered over the side and waved before disappearing, likely back into the sub. 

Jack swore quietly as she picked herself back up, brushing dirt from her jacket from the landing. 

“Not getting away with that shit, Trafalgar,” she muttered, turning to head into town. She wasn’t sure exactly  _ how _ she’d get him back for it, but it was definitely going to happen. 

Walking through the shopping district proved to be both cathartic and melancholy. It was a little bigger than the one in Calamon, which was nice when it came to buying new clothes. The bags hanging off of her right arm proved that. Unfortunately, the atmosphere reminded her of home, and she felt a slight tug in her heart. 

Shaking away the thought, Jack spotted an apothecary off to the side, near a flower shop. She grinned and made her way over, the bell above the top of the door ringing as she entered. At the front desk an older woman sat filling bottles with a fine powder, measuring it carefully before pouring it into each one. The bell’s sound had her looking up, face brightening at the sight of a potential customer.

“Hello, little miss! Can I get you something?”

Jack smiled back. “Hi. I was looking for a few tools for processing herbs and other ingredients?”

The woman lit up. “You’re an herbalist then? I have a few things in stock, nothing fancy or technical.”

Jack waved her arms. “No, no, I’m more familiar with fauna than flora, but I know enough to get by. They don’t have to be fancy, just a mortar and pestle, maybe some pressing blocks if you have any?”

“Oh sure, dearie! It's always nice seeing you young people keeping the profession alive. Let me grab you some things in the back, I’ll get you all set up!”

Jack rubbed the bag of her neck awkwardly as she was left alone at the front of the store. Looking around, there were a few different herbs and topical medications available. She assumed that most of what the older woman sold was as-needed, people coming in with a problem of some kind and her prescribing a treatment. She wondered off-hand if there were any venomous species on the island, and if so, whether or not there was somewhere to buy antivenom and the tools with which to produce it. 

Halfway through her thought the woman returned with an armful of pressing blocks and a ceramic-looking mortar and pestle. “Shall I wrap these up for you dear?”

“That would be fantastic, miss…?”

“Oh, no one’s called me miss in a long time! You can call me Inga,” She chirped as she wrapped the tools in paper and stuck them carefully in a bag. “Here you are! Is there anything else I can help you find?”

“Ah, thank you. Do you know of any place on the island for any animal-based treatments? Making antivenom or the like? I know it’s a long shot.”

Inga put a finger to her bottom lip, looking off to the side as she thought. “Hmm, if you’re looking for those, you might get help nearer to the physician down by the shipbuilder’s union. There is a place that provides more basic medical supplies. Is that your field then? A nurse perhaps?”

“Veterinarian, to be specific. Thank you for the tip, how much do I owe you for these?”

Jack paid and got the new bag slung over her shoulder. As she headed towards the door, the woman, Inga, spoke up again. “Do be careful, dear! There are some less savory types down that way of the docks, and I heard some pirates have been in the area! There was a terrible mess on Calamon recently, so make sure to keep an eye out!”

Jack turned, the grin on her face getting a little sharper. “Don’t worry, auntie. I’m a little tougher than I look!” 

With that, she headed out the door and towards the place Inga had told her about.

* * *

The town definitely got sketchier as Jack walked, the windows gaining boards and the people looking seedier. Jack had the thought that maybe she and the rest of the Heart Pirates were not the only pirates on the island. She was getting some stares, but was pretty certain that it was gross man-stares rather than any recognition of her status of a pirate.It wasn’t necessarily better, but it would certainly give her the upper hand to be underestimated if someone decided they wanted to start something.

Jack spotted the doctor’s office down the street, and began looking around for the supply shop. Locating it a few doors down, she headed that way until suddenly a body had shoved itself in her path. An older man who smelled of smoke and seawater was swaying from side to side in front of her, a sheet and a half to the wind already.

“Wanna hand with those bags, sweetheart?”

Jack grimaced. “Yeah, I think I’m fine. Take a walk, I’ve got things to do.”

The guy glared, eyes focusing and unfocusing a little below where Jack wanted to be looked at. “Don’t think ya get it, little lady. I’m sayin’, hand off your bags before I help you with something else.”

As he said that, he pulled a switchblade from a side pocket, wielding it without any fear of being stopped or reprimanded. Checking around, Jack noticed that everyone nearby had averted their eyes, probably used to this sort of behavior on this side of town. Shifting the weight of her purchases, Jack reached down to the hilt of one of her sickles, belted to her waist and sheathed to avoid suspicion. 

“Really thing you’re making a mistake, bud. I’m not really in the mood for fucking around with anyone right now.”

The creep just grinned, and Jack groaned. She’d been hoping to keep a low profile, but it seemed like it wouldn’t be possible. She smirked a bit. It had been a while since she’d gotten to fight someone. Might as well enjoy it.

As Jack unclipped the strap on one of her sheaths, a pop rang out, and suddenly the switchblade was skittering across the cobblestones. Jack crouched and turned towards the source, surprised to see someone holding a nailgun towards the would-be assailant. The guy in question was holding his hand close to his chest, glaring down the newcomer.

“Ah ah ah, we don’t treat ladies like that on Destry, my friend.” 

With that, the nailgun let off another shot, this time hitting the creep in the shoulder and sending him to the ground. The wielder was a taller guy with sandy brown hair and a build that suggested he was lifting things most of the day. He had a vest over a collared shirt, and the wink he sent Jack made her near-grateful expression fall straight back to annoyance.

The new guy ignored her in favor of walking up to the older man, standing on his chest and pointing the nailgun down towards him. “Apologize to the lady, or else you’ll be taking vacation with the physician across the way.”

The man mumbled something that sounded vaguely apologetic before scrambling off down an alley. Jack flipped the strap back over the sheath of her sickle and made to walk away towards her original objective when an arm landed across her shoulders.

“Can I escort you to your next stop, little miss?”

Internally, Jack groaned. Despite being taller than the average woman, she kept running into people that were both taller than her and way too cocky. She hoped it wasn’t a pattern.

“Think I’ll make it just fine on my own, thanks for the offer.” She was not thankful.

“Call me Hinko. Surely you’re headed in some direction? Let me escort you through this unsavory part of town. Even pirates seem to have better manners these days.”

Jack laughed at the irony. “Wouldn’t know. Anyway, I’m just stopping in here. Thanks for the assist, I guess.”

Despite the not-so-subtle attempt at getting him off of her back, Hinko continued to follow her into the supplies shop. He looked over the various equipment advertised as she talked to the salesman. They didn’t have anything specific for venom extraction, which although unfortunate wasn’t surprising. In colder climates, there weren’t a lot of venomous species. The shopkeep went in the back to see if there were any parts she could use to build one herself.

“Figures my luck would only hold for one stop, not two,” Jack muttered, leaning against the counter and staring out the window.

“Now what would lead you to that in conclusion?” The arm was back. “Seems like fate’s done you a couple favors today.”

“Are you supposed to be one of them?

Hinko held a hand to his heart in mock-surprise. “You wound me! After everything we’ve been through!”

“You shot a guy with nails and then started following me around.” Jack grabbed his hand to drag his arm off of her, but he just held on to her hand then. 

She seriously contemplated breaking a few fingers when the sales guy came back. “Nothing too technical, but if you take a little bit of ingenuity, these should get you what you need!”

Jack looked over the things he’d brought out. “This should work. I have beakers and such already, so this care of actually acquiring the venom. Thanks so much!”

“Not a problem young lady! You and your partner have a good day now.”

Damn it all he was still holding her hand. Jack yanked her arm back and paid the shopkeep, stalking out of the store with a huff. She decided it was time to get back to the Polar Tang and drop everything off, maybe meet up with the boys and grab something to eat. Taking a different route, Jack headed towards the sea to head along the docks back to the sub. Unfortunately, she was still not alone.

“Headed home now, miss….”

It was a leading question. “Jack. Don’t you have somewhere to be?”

“Nowhere important! Not when there’s someone needing an escort home.”

“Who said I needed that?!”

“Nothing important, huh?” said another voice from behind them. Turning, Jack found a shorter man with a pair of long braids hanging over each shoulder. His eyes looked to be completely closed, despite being upright.. 

“Aren’t you supposed to be helping the riggers down at dock 4? Hinko?”

Hinko stepped a little further away from Jack, which she appreciated. Rubbing the back of his neck, he replied, “Come on, Din! It’s my lunch break!”

The braid guy, Din, crossed his arms, one eye cracking open slightly. “Your lunch was an hour ago.”

“....extended?”

Jack moved back a bit before noticing the two guys following Din. “Shachi? Peng?”

“Jack!” The both of them shuffled over to her while Hinko got berated by the Din guy. “What are you doing over here?”

“I was picking up some other supplies, and headed back to the sub, actually. Who’s that?”

Penguin looked annoyed. “He’s supposed to be the one getting us our log pose, but apparently a bunch of other pirates raided them last night and took the lot.”

“The hell? Are they trying to keep people from getting through the Grand Line?”

Shachi shrugged, replying this time. “No idea, but Captain isn’t gonna be happy about it. We’re headed back to let him know before heading to lunch. Wanna come?”

Jack grinned. “Great minds. Sure, my arms are getting tired anyway.”

The bags suddenly disappeared from her arms. “Allow me, miss Jack!”

Hinko was back next to her, with Din suddenly being ignored behind him. Jack glared. “Didn’t you have work to do? Buzz off.”

His hand was over his heart again. “And leave you with a couple of troublemakers? The thought!”

Shachi and Penguin looked vaguely offended by that, but as they went to protest, Din’s hand appeared on Hinko’s shoulder. The guy actually looked a little fearful despite the braided man’s once again closed eyes. “You, Hinko, are headed to dock 4. You’ve wasted 87.34 of the boss’s money this week, and the ship isn’t even done.”

“Why do you care?!”

“Because if I have to hear him complain about it again I’m going to drown myself in paperwork.”

The two dock workers continued to argue as they headed back to the shipbuilder’s area of the docks. The Heart Pirates just stared after them. 

“That was…. Interesting.”

Penguin looked confused. “That’s the most that guy talked the whole time! He’s been doing math on that damn notebook since we got there!”

Shachi just shook his head. “This is why I don’t do any of our bookkeeping. Turns you into a stickler.”

“Plus, you’d have to know how to do math.”

Jack got a punch in the shoulder for that one, but she just laughed. Picking up the bags that Hinko had set down while being dragged away, she headed down the port in the direction of the Polar Tang.

“Come on! I’m hungry, and I want to see the look on Law’s face when you tell him there aren’t any log poses.”

Both the boys trailed behind her. “Yeah, thanks….”

* * *

Law was, in fact, not happy about the lack of log poses. He glared out at the sea in the direction of a ship docked off shore. “I thought that flag looked familiar. The Bent Knife pirates are here too. If anyone’s taken control of all the log poses, it’s them.”

Jack leaned back against the railing of the Polar Tang. “What’s the point? Having more than one isn’t going to get them through the Grand Line faster.”

“It will keep other crews from joining the race. At least from the North Blue.”

The ship in question was a square rigged ship that looked way too fancy to belong to any pirate crew. Then again, Jack thought, she was standing on a submarine.

“So what’s the plan then?”

Law walked towards the gangplank. “We need to know where they might have taken the log poses. If they’ve taken them to their ship, or worse, dumped them, it will be a lot harder to get any back.”

Jack glanced over at Shachi and Penguin. Bepo was down in navigation plotting their course towards what was apparently known as Reverse Mountain, their only way into the Grand Line. The two engineers had brought back a few maps and journals that gave insight into traveling to and through the great sea, and the polar bear was pouring over them. The three of them, however….

“Still want to get lunch?

“Yep.”

“Hell yes.”

Trailing through town towards a restaurant that Jack had passed prior, the three Heart Pirates kept an eye out for the apparent second pirate crew that lurked on Destry with them. Jack wondered if the creepy man from earlier was one of them, but had no proof. Although he did have a switchblade… did that count as a bent knife?

Sitting down at a patio table, the three of them ordered food and drinks before sitting back to watch the busier street. It was after one, so people were finding their own meals or finishing up their morning work. Jack slung an arm behind her head, grinning. Maybe being a pirate had a few perks.

“So what else did you guys find with the shipbuilders?”

“Just that bookkeeper, not that we were looking. The boss of the place seems like a jerk, delegating everything to everyone below him.”

Penguin leaned forward, elbows resting on the table as his hat tipped down over his eyes. “He was the only one who wanted to talk to us, too. Apparently they’ve been getting some Marine pressure about pirates, what with them being so close to the Grand Line.”

Jack laughed. “We haven’t even done anything yet.”

“Yet being the key word, I thought Captain was gonna blow a gasket about the log poses.” Shachi waved the waitress over and ordered another drink. “Haven’t heard a lot about the Bent Knife pirates, except that they’re bounties are lower. If they’re headed to the Grand Line, it’s definitely a good strategy to cut down on the competition.”

“Guess we’ll have to cut them down first.” Jack said as she sipped on her soda.

“And how come a lady is being dragged into a man’s fight?”

The distaste that swept over Jack’s face at the sound of that voice radiated annoyance. Shachi and Penguin looked past her head as someone draped their arm over her shoulders. Her neck creaking like a door, Jack turned to come face to face with Hinko, who was grinning like an idiot. Behind him was Din, holding the same notebook he had been earlier. Unbothered by the look on her face, Hinko continued.

“Are you troublemakers pulling miss Jack into some scheme?”

Jack shrugged his arm off with a heavy, quick movement, turning in her seat to face him. “Alright asshole, if you keep up with the ‘miss’ shit you’re gonna find out exactly how much trouble I can make.”

“Already making friends with the locals, miss Jack?”

The whole group turned as one to watch Law strut up to the patio, pulling a chair from a nearby table and sitting down with a huff, nodachi leaning at his side. Without any further acknowledgment of the two extra people, he turned to his crew.

“I’ve found where the Bent Knives have hidden the log poses. There’s an empty warehouse near the shipbuilder’s docks. We’ll head there tonight.”

Shachi looked up excitedly. “Heavily guarded?”

“Probably.”

“Leaving on schedule tomorrow?” Penguin leaned back finally, looking happier about their prospects.

“Yes. Earlier, if we can, and depending how tonight goes. You have your things, miss Jack?”

“Picked up everything this morning and ready to go, Captain. Looking forward to stretching out a bit.”

Law grinned at that. 

There was a cough behind them, and they turned to see Din looking uncomfortable and Hinko whiter than a sheet. “Can we help you?”

Hinko looked at Jack and then back at Law. “Are you…. The Surgeon of Death?!”

The Heart Pirates looked at each other. Shachi looked over at Din first. “Did you…. Not figure that out when we first showed up?”

Din just shrugged. Jack figured he didn’t pay attention to anything except numbers anyway. She was enjoying the look on Hinko’s face though. 

“You killed people on Calamon! You and that Ripper?!”

Jack raised her hand at that one. “Guilty. Got a fuckin’ problem?”

Now he was staring at her. There was a good chance his brain had melted out of his skull, so she shifted over to Din. “You spend a lot of time at the docks. Want to help us get your log poses back?”

“Sure.”

“You’re alright with this?!”

Din just looked at his colleague. “They’re offering to help out. Weren’t you flirting with one of them earlier?”

Now he was blushing, which was  _ hilarious _ . “Well…. a pirate…. I mean….”

“Sit down, nailgun.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wrote this faster than expected. May be delayed for the next one because holidays, but we'll see. Thanks for the comments, they really do make my days better.


	9. Showdown on Destry! The Hearts vs the Bent Knife Pirates!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everything belongs to Oda, except my OC's and mistakes.

Law looked at the two new table members. “We’re getting local help now?”

“This guy was the one who was originally going to sell us the log pose,” Penguin said as he gestured to Din, “And the other one is a rigger I guess. Could use the info at least.”

“I’m very good with a nailgun, if you pirates want to know,” Hinko mumbled, slouched in his seat. As much as Jack was enjoying this particular turn of events, she nodded along. 

“Saw him in action. Almost makes up for the rest of him.”

She got a glare from the shipbuilder in response, but ignored it and turned to Din. “Why isn’t your superior worried about this sort of thing? So close to the Grand Line, I figured he’d want to keep log poses available.”

Din was silent for a moment, flipping through a notebook that never seemed to leave his hand. “I’ve been thinking about that, too.”

The quiet man found the page he was apparently looking for, and pulled a handwritten receipt that had been taped within. “Found this in a transactions folder that wasn’t in my archive. Seems that the boss sold the log pose stock to the Bent Knives under the table. The funds didn’t end up in the treasury, and there’s no official record of the sale.”

“So he pocketed the money?”

Din just nodded at Law, pressing the receipt back in and closing the notebook.

“That explains why there isn’t any sort of official presence looking for them.”

Hinko sat up and turned towards Din. “Stanting screwed us over?”

Another nod.

“Again?!”

A third nod. Jack got the distinct impression that this was how most of their conversations went. 

Shachi looked at the quieter shipbuilder. “Your boss has done this before?”

Hinko answered for him. “Mostly it’s just been underpaying, overtime mishaps, that sort of thing. One of the dockworkers got injured last year and got loopholed out of any compensation.” He paused. “I never thought he’d do business with pirates, though.”

“Money tends to supersede a lot of people’s morals.” Law stood, shouldering Kikoku and looking up at where the sun was in the sky. “We’re heading back to the sub. The less we hang around town today, the better our chances are of being inconspicuous later. Miss Jack, you’ll be our point for this. Can you get over onto the warehouse without any trouble?”

“Plenty of close rooftops and a swimming certificate from school says yes.”

“Fine then. You’ll check our opposition. Shachi and Penguin, back entrance. I’ll take the front. Bepo knows what we’re looking for, so we’ll get him cover. Got it?”

The Heart pirates nodded to their captain. Penguin rubbed his hands together in excitement. “One more fight in the North Blue, huh?”

Shachi grinned. “Grand Line, here we come!”

Din and Hinko just watched, the former with interest and the latter with a slight amount of abject horror. Regardless, they both waved when the group headed back to the docks, promising to keep the events for the evening to themselves. 

Jack didn’t think they were the blabbing kind, and from their explanation of their boss, there wasn’t a lot of loyalty to be lost there either. All that was left was to count down the hours to sunset.

\---

Back in the sub, Jack switched the long sweatshirt she’d borrowed from Law for her jacket, layering a dark shirt underneath for some extra warmth. She’d picked up some heavier leather gloves and a red scarf that she set aside near her mask, and then headed to the training area. Peeking in the day before she’d seen a few sharpening stations, something she’d neglected to do until now. 

The act of sharpening first one sickle and then the other was cathartic. The sound of grinding steel and sparking metal set Jack’s mind at ease as she planned out her route for the night’s events. After taking the dock back to the Polar Tang, she knew how far she’d need to swim before hitting a scalable building attached to the water. 

She could take back alleys, but the best route to the warehouse was by rooftop, and anything she could scale from on land was in full view of the streets. Someone walking around might not be too bad, but she needed a height advantage, and climbing a building was not subtle. In case they were biting off more than they could chew, she needed to be quiet and remain unseen, which meant going for a cold swim. From there, it was a hop, skip and a jump (literally) to the warehouse in question. 

Nothing she hadn’t done a hundred times before.

Finishing the blades, Jack headed to the kitchen to make something easy for dinner. Shachi and Penguin had picked up groceries and other kitchen staples before heading to the shipbuilders, so there were a plethora of ingredients to choose from. 

Throwing together more rice, some shrimp, peppers, onions and a few other things, Jack had a good gumbo dish ready by the time the sun was getting close to setting. The crew ate in relative silence, everyone preparing themselves for the coming hours. Tossing the remains of their quick meal into the kitchen, Jack joined them as they went topside, gathering on deck just as snow began to fall from the ever-darkening sky.

Penguin had come into the training room briefly to grab what seemed to be a short spear off of the wall, and Jack recalled Bepo and Shachi being fairly proficient in martial arts. Kikoku was at Law’s side, as always. Jack had donned her pack, jacket, boots, socks, gloves and scarf shoved within to protect them from the chilly swim she was about to take. 

“If you get hypothermia, we’re leaving you here.”

“No you aren’t.” Jack grinned at Law, stretching out her arms up into the sky. “Besides, I’ve lived on two winter islands at this point. Cold water feels like home.”

Law just turned away. “We’ll be close behind. There’s plenty of back alleys that head to the warehouse, so look for us there when you give a signal. I want to know what we’re walking into.”

“Aye aye, captain.”

With that, Jack turned to take one more look at the sky, squinting at the moonlight filtering through the heavy clouds and the snowfall before tugging her mask over her head. Vaulting up onto the railing, she dove silently into the sea below. 

* * *

The water was cold, but clear. Jack counted the pillars ascending from the bottom that held the docks above the water, keeping track of her progress as she streaked through the water. Coming up beneath the shelter of the wooden decking, she checked her position along the shoreline. She’d hit the halfway point to the house she would scale, and she could still feel all of her fingers. A win-win, in her opinion. 

Taking a deep breath, Jack went under again, propelling herself through the water despite the slight numbing of her extremities. Finally, she reached the building. Pulling herself hand over hand up the side of it, she took a moment to catch her breath, wring out her shirt, and shake warmth back into her limbs. 

“Glad I kept the coffee maker running,” she muttered, pulling out the gear from her pack and wrapping the scarf snugly around her neck. Boots tied tightly, Jack took a few steps back before running and leaping to the next rooftop, skidding on the built up snow and using the momentum to launch across the next gap.

She gave a silent thanks to whoever designed the buildings in this part of town. They were fairly close together, and the ones that weren’t were large enough that she could get a good lead up to make the jump. She only slipped once, skidding on her side to the edge of the snowy roof before catching on the chimney. The stone held firm as she hung in the air for a brief moment, legs dangling in space, before Jack pulled herself back up. 

She took a steadying breath before taking the next running leap, finally making her way to the building where the Bent Knife pirates had stashed the log poses. 

The siding of the warehouse attached to the roof she was on was staggered in a way that made scaling it a breeze. Once at the top, Jack found a skylight window, sneaking quietly towards it and wiping away the snow that blocked her view.

Below in the building were a good number of pirates, as well as a guy in a nice suit that didn’t fit the theme. He was talking to a large man with a sword that had to be 6 feet long, bent into what looked like a boomerang. 

“Must be their captain,” Jack muttered, counting the other crew members below. After double-checking the number, she moved silently along the roof of the warehouse towards the street side of the buildings.

Crouching down near the edge, Jack scanned the open alleys visible from the warehouse. On her second pass, she spotted Law peering out of one, doing his own search of the roof. She gave a short wave, catching his attention. He gestured to another alley where she saw Penguin peeking out. 

Giving a thumbs up, Jack held up ten fingers and then eight more, indicating how many people were inside. She wanted to give them a heads up on big boss and the pirate captain, but they’d find out eventually. 

She saw Law signal Shachi and Penguin to head towards the back of the building, while he and Bepo went to the main garage of the warehouse. Jack headed back to the window, checking the height of the crates below to make sure there wouldn’t be any broken ankles upon landing. She crouched, the butt of her sickle ready to smash the glass panel.

A hefty crash came from the front of the building as Law cut down the door, sending a Room in immediately and switching the limbs and heads of the two pirates keeping an eye out there. Bepo ran in behind on a collision course for several more just as yelling began at the other end of the warehouse. 

Taking a deep breath, Jack smashed through the window and jumped down into the melee, landing heavily on a stack of crates before leaping down onto the back of the Bent Pirate’s captain. They both tumbled to the ground, Jack rolling to a crouch facing the larger man. He was nearly seven feet tall, hair pulled back in a long, black ponytail that fell from a classic (Jack thought tacky) trifold hat. He was missing several teeth and looked like he’d taken plenty of hits in the face over the years, an open-chested shirt showing crisscrossed scars and a gut.

That was as much as Jack could take in before the boomerang sword was crashing against her hastily put up sickles, the metal screeching. 

“Need a fucking breath mint, crag-face,” Jack said, grinning as his mouth dropped into a snarl. The suited man that had been talking to the Bent Knives’ captain unsheathed his own weapon, a huge broadsword, and was about to take up the rest of Jack’s attention when Law appeared, Kikoku up to block the wide swing.

Jack turned back to her own fight, jumping back to disengage for a moment. The enemy captain smirked at her. “Heard you Heart pirates were on the island. You mus’ be the Ripper, then. Seem a lot taller in that wanted poster of yers, but I ‘spose we can’t all be captain Endil of the Bent Knife pirates.”

“Didn't need to know your name, but I’ll send it to the coroner for you.”

“And a lady at that! What’s the age of pirates come to?”

That annoyed Jack extremely, so she rushed forward at Endil, sliding one sickle up the blade of his sword as she went in close. She got a kick in the chest for her trouble, rolling back and ducking just as the boomerang shape of the sword proved to be more than an aesthetic choice.

The blade missed her by a hair, and Jack couldn’t follow its trajectory as the other captain rushed her, bracers of metal blocking her sickles as he attempted to bowl her over. She returned the previous favor and kicked him back, boot firmly in the center of his stomach as she threw all of her weight into pushing him away. She got a solid hit under his arm as he windmilled to stop from falling to the ground, blood beginning to pour from the wound. He held it for a moment, glaring at her, before he smiled, and then Jack remembered the stupid sword.

“Shit.”

She threw herself to the side, narrowly missing being bisected by the flying blade. It sliced into her upper arm instead, cutting deeply as it returned to Endil.

“Gotta be faster than that, luv,” he blathered, before rushing towards her. 

They clashed again, exchanging and blocking blows as the fighting picked up around them. Jack took a detour up into some of the crates as he threw the sword again, dodging as it smashed through the wood and took away her platforms. She leapt down from above him, landing on the flat of his blade and aiming for his head. He brought up his armored forearm just in time, and Jack launched herself from the blade before he could throw her.

Glancing across the room, Jack saw that some of the other pirates had been taken care of, although one was shooting from a higher vantage point as several others still fought Shachi and Penguin. Law and the man in the suit were engaged as well, the two exchanging blows while Law tried to switch around the terrain to keep up an advantage.

Endil took advantage of her momentary distraction, bringing his bent sword down on her with a heavy swing. Jack got both her sickles up in time to catch the blade, although the much larger man had the advantage in strength. Bracing her legs, she pushed up against the onslaught of force, trying to get enough balance to kick a leg out at the other pirate.

A sudden crash from the front of the warehouse caught everyone’s attention, and Jack looked over to see two men emerge from the smoke and snow.

Din had a baseball bat slung over one shoulder, notebook tucked into the breast pocket of his shirt. Beside him, Hinko was already aiming a much larger version of his nailgun at the remaining Bent Knife pirates, taking shots at the sniper who was still hiding up in the crates. 

Shachi paused briefly after kicking a pirate away. “What the hell are you two doing here?!”

“What, and let you pirates get all the credit? These are our docks, no way are we gonna let some assholes take advantage of us!” Hinko took several more shots as Din walked calmly up to one of the remaining Bent Knife pirates. 

The guy looked confused until the baseball bat slammed into his torso, Din swinging it with far more force than his build might have suggested. The fighting continued, although the suited man tangled with Law had split his focus.

“Din? Hinko? What the hell are you two useless idiots doing here?”

Hinko seemed to notice the guy for the first time, eyes blazing with a heavy, long-standing disgust. 

“Stanting. Should have guessed you’d sell out to pirates.”

The man, Stanting, blinked before baring his teeth at the rigger. His face was a fun shade of red that looked like it would have melted the snow outside on contact. “That’s sir to you, boy! You- you both owe me everything! Get rid of these damn pirates or I’ll kick you back into the slums where you belong!”

“That reminds me, Stanting. We had another reason for showing up here. Besides, you know, kicking your ass and proving what a scumbag you are to the rest of the island.” Hinko looked over at Din, who simply nodded before swinging his bat at another Bent Knife pirate.

“We quit!”

With that, Hinko took out the sniper in the crates and turned his fire at Stanting, who brought up the broadsword to block the projectiles before leaping back to avoid being cut in two by Law.

Jack had her own problems to deal with, but the grin cutting across her face was getting wider. She’d forgotten how much she enjoyed a brawl like this. Sure, her vigilante days were fun, but this? Fighting on equal footing with people who didn’t need protecting, people who had your back? This was a good time.

She took a running start and leapt sideways off of a stack of crates, knocking them into one of the remaining enemy pirates. The momentum carried her past Endil, slicing the side of his face before she rolled to a stop several yards away. He looked more than pissed off now, and Jack watched as he reeled back to throw his sword once again. 

Her timing was just right. Vaulting into the air, Jack used the spinning flat of the blade to propel herself even higher, crashing against Endil with her sickles against his bracers. They clashed and broke apart over and over again, and Jack could feel the ache of her muscles as she forced them to hold up against the larger man. 

“Ready to give up, little girl?” Endil was smirking down at her, veins pulsing in his arms as he pressed down on her form, trying to crush her. One knee hit the stonework of the floor and Jack cursed, glaring up at the pirate.

“Can’t…. say that I am….” Her breathing was heavy, the cold leaking in from the outside freezing it midair. “It’s hard to count down seconds…. when some asshole is getting in the way…. Should’ve paid more attention, fuckface.”

With that, Jack moved, diving forward through Endil’s legs and ignoring the heavy fist she received against her back. She skidded to a stop and turned just in time to see the boomerang sword slam into its owner, sending him tumbling to the ground in a bloody heap. 

Holding her still bleeding arm, Jack stood over the body, resisting the urge to kick it once more for good measure. 

“Don’t throw a weapon unless you’re ready to get a faceful of it later.” She muttered, clipping one sickle to her belt before checking up on everyone else. 

Shachi and Penguin, with Din’s help, had dispatched the rest of the Bent Knife pirates, while Hinko was still taking pot shots at Stanting, who was having enough trouble holding back Law. 

Out of the corner of her eye Jack saw orange and white, so she hurried over to Bepo.

“Did you find the log poses?”

He held up a leather strap with a glass sphere attached to the top, a compass needle swivelling within.

“There’s about three dozen more in a crate back there.”

“The dock workers can deal with that. We’ve got our ticket, that’s all that matters.”

The two of them returned to the main area just as Stanting was cut in half, the torso and head propelled into the wall by Hinko’s heavy duty nails piercing into the tattered suit. There was a distinct lack of blood, and Jack looked closer to see the outline of Law’s blue Room. It didn’t last, and looking over at him, she could see that he was breathing hard, arm dropping to his side as he released his devil fruit.

The Heart pirates gathered to Law. 

“You found the log poses?”

“Yes captain.” Bepo held up his furry arm to show the device, fastened securely to his wrist.

“Then it’s time to go. This guy can explain to the Marines why he’s with a bunch of pirates,” Law gestured at Stanting, who seemed to be out cold.

Din and Hinko came up behind them. “You’re leaving now?”

“No sense sticking around after all the noise we just made. The Marines are going to be crawling around here soon.”

Jack piped up at that. “You two might want to be scarce, too. Although you could probably dump a hell of a lot more shit on that guy, especially with what you told us.”

Din and Hinko looked at each other before heading back towards the front of the warehouse, picking up a pair of duffel bags that they had stashed there in the chaos. They both turned back, smirking.

“See, we’ve been thinking about it, and after some consideration, we’re done with this place. No respect for a couple of hard working guys, you know?”

Din nodded. “Need some new work. Hiring?”

It took all of them a few seconds to parse the truncated question, but then Shachi was yelling and Penguin was laughing and they were all headed back to the Polar Tang, Law following behind them with a slight smile on his face. 

The snow was still falling outside, flakes drifting down and blowing in the cold breeze coming in off of the sea. Jack took a deep breath, embracing the feeling of cold air in her lungs. 

“What did I say about hypothermia?”

Jack raised an eyebrow at Law, and then realized that the cold weather and still wet clothes were perhaps beginning to get to her. She wrapped her arms around her torso to calm the shivering that she hadn’t noticed, tugging closed the leather jacket that she’d left open during the fight. As she did, the rip in the arm from where Endil had gotten her tore a bit more.

“Aw, damnit! Now I’ve gotta find another patch for this.”

“Are you bleeding?”

“Pretty sure we’re all bleeding, cap. Nothing special.”

Law ignored her and did a brief check of her wound as they walked, probing the ragged skin.

Satisfied that she wasn’t about to bleed to death, he faced forward again. “Just wrap it when we get back. If it gets infected let me know.”

“Some doctor you are.”

“What was that?”

“I mean…. Aye aye, captain!”

Jack danced out of the way to avoid Kikoku as it swung towards her head, still in its sheath. Catching up to the group in front, she launched herself on to Bepo’s back, wrapping her arms around his broad, furry shoulders. “Bepo, I’m cold!”

Bepo staggered before righting himself. “So I have to carry you?”

“I had to swim and then fight in wet clothes. Please?”

Bepo didn’t respond, but Jack felt his paws wrap around her legs to hold her up. Hinko turned towards the two of them, staring up at her through her mask. 

“That’s really you behind that creepy thing, huh?”

“Guilty as charged. Jack Wayfair, aka the Ripper, at your service.”

“Wayfair…. Wasn’t that the lady who got killed on Calamon?”

Jack laughed. “Yeah, don’t believe everything you read in the papers. Still pissed about that one, Law got all of the credit for killing me.”

“I am the one who did all of the work.”

“Still don’t care!”

Hinko just shook his head. Din was stuck under Shachi’s arm, nodding along to whatever the red head was talking about. Penguin had his arms up behind his head, enjoying the cold night air and the snowfall.

Up ahead the sub came into view, the yellow paint job reflecting the little bit of light streaming through the clouds from the moon. Din and Hinko paused at the bottom of the gangplank to peer up at the Polar Tang, taking in the one-of-a-kind pirate ship.

“Sure you’re up for this, Din?”

The braided man in question looked at Hinko, pulled out his notebook, tore out the phony receipt from Stanting’s log pose scam, and chucked it into the ocean. Hinko watched as it floated out to sea, and Din headed up the gangplank without him. 

Jack peeked out over Bepo’s shoulder. “Oi, nailgun!”

Hinko looked up then, seeing the Heart pirates and captain Law standing together at the top of the gangplank, Din about halfway up.

“Coming, or what?”

She saw him smile, and then Hinko was racing up the gangplank towards them, catching up with Din. Together, the seven of them entered the sub, ready to set sail.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy 1000th chapter to everyone who reads the manga. Hope you all had a Merry Christmas, a blessed Yule, etc.  
> I wrote a bunch of random stuff for chapters that won't happen for a long time (like, sabaody/punk hazard long), which is why this took a bit longer than I thought.  
> Anyways, two new crew members and we're off to the Grand Line. Let me know whaat you guys thought, always appreciate seeing the comments.  
> Especially the ones from people who started reading this last year. You know who you are.  
> See you later, unless I get eaten by something between now and then. Have a Happy New Year.


End file.
